Congress New procedure to choose Congress president raises questions: Report
New Delhi: The Congress has asked the state units of the party to pass resolutions for Sonia Gandhi to nominate state unit chiefs and All India Congress Committee (AICC) members, putting a question mark over the internal elections scheduled next month.
Further, the process of selection of Congress president is not covered by these resolutions. Sonia Gandhi has refused to take the leadership citing poor health and her son Rahul Gandhi has remained steadfast in his decision to not head the party after stepping down post-2019 Lok Sabha polls.
According to NDTV, the party is looking at a non-Gandhi leader to head the party after 20 years, indicating that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also not in the race.
Initially, enthusiastic about Priyanka Gandhi playing a bigger role in Congress, most of the party leaders appear to have dropped the idea after her dismal performance in Uttar Pradesh in two subsequent assembly polls.
The reports said Gandhi family loyalists like Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot are a likely option.
The NDTV report said that the state party units could also pass a resolution empowering Sonia Gandhi to name the next Congress president.
But it would not be binding on the Congress Central Election Authority as its members are not part of the process of passing resolutions, the report said citing a member involved with the election process.
The last time the party saw an actual contest for the top post was in 2000, when senior leader Jitendra Prasad from Uttar Pradesh challenged Sonia Gandhi.
Sonia Gandhi won with 99 percent of the delegate votes.
Jitendra Prasad remained with the Congress for years after that and also his son Jitin Prasada.
However, Jitin Prasada is now with the BJP.
Sonia Gandhi has been interim president for the past three years. She held the post, full-time, for a record 18 consecutive years till Rahul Gandhi took over in 2017.
The report said that Rahul Gandhi is expected to be the party's projected leader for the voters against PM Narendra Modi and the BJP.
The entire Congress machinery is backing him as he is trying to build momentum with the Bharat Jodo campaign for the 2024 elections. It is evident that the party is fixed on relying on him as its national face against the massive popularity of PM Modi.
It is also evident that the Gandhis will continue to remain at the party's centre without holding any key position
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