Raising the pitch for Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as president of the grand old party, Congress leaders on Monday justified his taking over by saying “time is ripe”. Party leaders said that it is for party chief Sonia Gandhi too decide for Rahul’s elevation as she was last month given a three year term by the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
AICC sources said that party is mulling over to call a AICC session during the end of this month which may coincide with the forthcoming Winter Session which too like Monsoon Session is expected to see fireworks. Rahul had played a key role in mobilising party MPs which led to a complete washout of the Session.
Hailing the Congress vice-president as the “architect” of the grand alliance, AICC general secretary and incharge of Bihar Affairs CP Joshi suggested that Rahul played a key role in the crucial Bihar polls and thus “the victory in Bihar is a good timing for Rahul to take over as party chief”. The Congress romped home with 27 seats out of 41 it contested.
“Feeling of Congress workers now is that Rahul should take over as party president,” Joshi said at the AICC briefing. Joshi’s remarks have come at a time when Congress leaders are losing no time in crediting Rahul for the victory after the spectacular win of the Nitish Kumar-led coalition in Bihar. Another party general secretary Shakeel Ahmed too insisted that the grand alliance could not have been possible but for the effective role played by Rahul.
Punjab Congress chief Pratap Singh Bajwa said the opportune time has arrived for him to take over as Congress president under the over-all guidance of Sonia Gandhi. Bajwa said the phenomenal performance of the Congress in terms of the relative increase in seat tally from the previous Bihar assembly elections is indicative of the growing popularity of Rahul Gandhi.
“This is the right time for Rahul Gandhi to assume the mantle and lead the Congress from the forefront. Rahul Gandhi has shown excellent political acumen and foresight in stitching an alliance of like-minded and secular parties in Bihar and further brought Nitish Ji, lalu Ji and Congress on one common platform which trumped the NDA led by Narendra Modi,” he said.
Bihar is the first State where the Congress has done well after a long time — the last major victory being the Karnataka Assembly polls where it defeated the BJP. Major States like Assam, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh go to polls during the next two years and the polls is all these States are likely to be watched over.
The party also hinted that it was open to the idea of participation in the Nitish Kumar Government. “We have given commitment to the people of Bihar about the implementation of the seven point programme. We will consider all these aspects,” said Joshi.