Bengal poll impact: Congress may drop Adhir Choudhary as oppn leader in LS, will Tharoor replace him?

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday said reports of the party's leadership change in the Lok Sabha are "premature and unfounded".

No decision has been taken at the top level to replace the leader, sources said.

"The news of a change of leadership of the party in the Lok Sabha is premature and unfounded," a senior Congress leader said.

Earlier, there were rumours that Congress is considering replacing Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as leader of the Lok Sabha and appoint a new face to catalyse opposition strategy and corner the government in the parliament.

The move was likely devised as part of an attempt to offer an olive branch to Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee, as both Adhir and Mamata have been rivals since their Congress days.

Congress drew a blank in West Bengal despite tying up with the Left Front and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) in the recent Assembly polls.

Several party leaders had objected to the party's electoral tie-up with the ISF in West Bengal.

There were also rumours that the likely replacement could be Manish Tewari or Shashi Tharoor.

Tewari is MP from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab but has roots in eastern UP and has good relations with Mamata Banerjee and he is also a Brahmin, while Shashi Tharoor, an MP from Kerala has been vocal on several issues.

Incidentally, both Tharoor and Tewari are from the group of G-23 which wrote letters to Sonia Gandhi for sweeping reforms in the party.

A section of the party is also batting for Rahul Gandhi but sources say that he is not keen as the floor leader will not get the status of Leader of Opposition as Congress does not fulfil the criteria.

The Monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to start from July 19 and the Congress is set to raise the heat on the government over various issues.

(With inputs from agencies)

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