99.9 pct leaders want Rahul Gandhi as Congress chief: Randeep Surjewala
New Delhi/IBNS: As the Congress will soon start the process of electing its new chief, party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said "99.9 per cent" leaders want Rahul Gandhi to return as the president.
As part of the process, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi will hold meetings with senior party leaders over the next 10 days, beginning Saturday, said Randeep Surjewala.
Sonia Gandhi is also set to meet the 23 "dissenters" who wrote a letter in August calling for sweeping organizational changes to arrest a "leadership drift".
"The party will soon start the procedure to elect a new party president. An electoral college of Congress, AICC (All India Congress Committee) members, Congress workers and members will choose who's best suited," Surjewala said.
He added: "99.9% of people including me want Rahul Gandhi to be elected as party president. The final decision is his."
Sonia Gandhi, 74, has remained the interim party president since her son Rahul Gandhi resigned from the party's top post last year over the Congress's second straight national election defeat.
The 23 Congress leaders who had signed the August's 'dissent letter', which caused an all-out clash within the party.
The letter called for sweeping reforms, introspection and "full-time, visible leadership" of a party that has had Gandhi as "interim" chief since Rahul Gandhi resigned from the top post following last year's Lok Sabha polls debacle.
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