Congress dissenters may meet Sonia

New Delhi: In an attempt to iron out the differences with party's top brass, a group of 23 Congress "rebels" –who expressed their dissent over poor performance and sweeping organisational changes by writing a letter to Congress chief –may finally get to meet with the party president Sonia Gandhi. As per sources, the meeting has been arranged with the efforts of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath who played an instrumental role in setting up the meeting.

However, sources also said that in addition to Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul would also be present at the meeting over the weekend, which is seen as a move towards reconciliation.

"Kamal Nath has backed the cause of the so-called dissident leaders, who had expressed concern over the party's downslide and called for an active and present leadership," the sources said.

Nath, who lost power in Madhya Pradesh following senior leader Jyotiraditya Scindia's defection to BJP, played a role in persuading the Gandhis to meet the letter writers.

Recently, a rebellion threatened to flare up again after the Congress' abysmal performance in the Bihar election. Kapil Sibal, one of the letter writers, went public with his anger saying "the time for introspection is over". After him, other party leaders like P Chidambaram also called for a "comprehensive review" and suggested that the party needed to strengthen its core.

As per party leaders, the Congress is planning to elect a new chief in New Year as Sonia Gandhi has been interim president since Rahul Gandhi quit last year over the Congress' second successive national election defeat.