New Delhi, Jul 4 (IANS): The Congress is considering to replace Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as leader of the Lok Sabha and appoint a new face to catalyse opposition strategy in the house and outside and corner the government in the parliament.

The sources say that this is to offer olive branch to Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee, as both Adhir and Mamata have been rivals since their Congress days but the impending decision may come after party scored zero in West Bengal Assembly election despite Chowdhury getting free hand.

The possible 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.

However, a section of the party is 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 fulfill the criteria.

Incidentally, both Tharoor and Tewari are from the group of G-23 which wrote letters to Sonia Gandhi for sweeping reforms in the party. As Sonia Gandhi is reaching out to dissenters and opposition leaders, she is building a new team which is more flexible in approach. Chowdhury may be given the task to build the party in state as he is the Chief.