Kharge, Wasnik front-runners for Cong chief post
A new person is likely to take up the reins of the grand old party as the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday is set to name a new Congress president. AICC sources said despite overwhelming view within the CWC that either Rahul Gandhi should continue to head the party or Priyanka Gandhi must take on the mantle, there is little possibility of them obliging the party.
“In case both in the Nehru-Gandhi family decline, a non-Gandhian as desired by the Rahul Gandhi, may be party president for the first time in over two decades,” said sources.
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi met senior leaders Ahmed Patel, AK Antony and KC Venugopal on Friday ahead of the crucial CWC meeting. Besides discussing the issue of new leadership, senior members are believed to have also approved the nomination of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to be Congress’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Rajasthan.
Sources also said in case the CWC meeting fails to arrive at a consensus candidate, the CWC may elect an interim president who will call for fresh elections to pick the Congress chief. Sources also said the CWC may also form a panel of senior members to look for the new chief.
Former Union Ministers and Gandhi family loyalists Mallikarjun Kharge and Mukul Wasnik are the front runners. Both Wasnik and Kharge are Dalit leaders.
While Wasnik is a former Indian Youth Congress chief and was a Minister from Maharashtra where Assembly elections are due, Kharge has become an important member of the party and is in good books of Sonia. Both the leaders, however, lost the last Lok Sabha elections.
Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora took to social media to advocate support for Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia. “To my mind, two young leaders have the administrative, organisational and electoral credentials to become Congress president. They have pan-India appeal and either one can reinvigorate the party,” Deora said on Twitter handle.
Rahul had resigned from the post in the wake of a comprehensive defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Despite repeated requests by leaders of his party, Rahul has refused to continue as the party president. He also turned down any suggestions to elevate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as party chief.
Since the Lok Sabha defeat, the Congress has struggled to keep its house in order, with top leaders quitting the party and joining ruling BJP and all of them questioned lack of leadership and vision within the party system.
Two sitting Rajya Sabha members - Sanjay Sinh and Bhubneswar Kalita - resigned while several MLAs from different States quit the grand old party to join BJP in recent times.
While Jharkhand Congress chief Ajoy Kumar too quit his post on Friday, accusing some colleagues of promoting their own interests over the party and indulging in corrupt practices, former Haryana Chief Minister BS Hooda has threatened to launch his own party in the State where Assembly elections are due this year.
The party’s alliance Government in Karnataka with the JD(S) collapsed while prominent leaders in Maharashtra joined rivals BJP and Shiv Sena.
