CWC meets to discuss communal violence in northeast Delhi; Rahul Gandhi skips meet

New Delhi, Feb 26: Amid continued communal violence in parts of northeast Delhi that has claimed 17 lives, the Congress top leadership started deliberations on the issue at a meeting of its working committee on Wednesday.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and top leaders like Manmohan Singh, A K Anthony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, Priyanka Gandhi were present during the meeting. However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was not present at the meeting as he is abroad, sources said.

The party is likely to evolve a strategy on the continued violence in Delhi, following protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The Congress is against the CAA and has urged the government to keep it in abeyance or take it back as it is causing concern among a major section of the country's population, especially the Muslim community.

The death toll in the northeast Delhi communal violence over the amended citizenship law rose to 17 on Wednesday, according to GTB Hospital authorities. Communal violence in northeast Delhi escalated on Tuesday as police struggled to check the rioters who ran amok on streets, burning and looting shops, pelting stones and thrashing people.