Congress president poll: No indication from Rahul of his interest in top post | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Congress president poll: No indication from Rahul of his interest in the top post

By, New Delhi
Aug 19, 2022 12:34 AM IST

Elections to the post of party president would be held between August 21 and September 20.

With days to go for August 21 -- the Congress party has previously said that elections to the post of party president would be held between August 21 and September 20 -- and no indication from Rahul Gandhi of his interest in the post, party strategists and senior leaders fear that the upcoming election to get a new chief might well be a non-starter.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi. (PTI)
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party leader Rahul Gandhi. (PTI)

Three senior Congress leaders said they doubt whether Sonia Gandhi, the party’s interim chief, will be open to another five-year term as the party chief. They pointed out that Sonia was extremely reluctant to return as the interim chief at the CWC meeting on August 24, 2020. “But senior leaders such as AK Antony convinced her to return to the top post after Rahul declared he won’t take back the president’s post,” said a party strategist.

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At the sidelines of the Jaipur chintan shivir in June, Rahul Gandhi is believed to have told some of his confidantes that he doesn’t prefer “a desk job”, indicating that he doesn’t want to be bogged down in office work, and that he is keen on reaching out to the people. According to the strategist quoted above: “Gandhi is very excited about the Bharat Jodo yatra that will start from Kanyakumari and end in the Kashmir valley. He plans to cover the entire route in what is the Congress party’s first pan-India yatra in independent India.”

The majority of Congress leaders want Gandhi to become the president—a post he held from December 16 2017 to August 10, 2019 -- and in almost all Congress Working Committee meetings and other interactions they have repeatedly urged him to return to the top post.

According to a senior Congressman, Rahul Gandhi held informal discussions to find a non-Gandhi candidate who can lead the party -- although such a proposition is unlikely to be accepted by the party.

“The other alternative can be Priyanka Gandhi Vadra but she has time and again refuted such speculations and categorically maintained that she will do only what her brother asks her to do,” added another Congress leader considered close to Gandhi Vadra.

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