The Congress on Monday once again deferred the election for the post of a new party chief due to the prevailing pandemic situation. The decision was taken at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) chaired by interim chief Sonia Gandhi.
The election will be only after the Covid situation in the country improves. June 23 was the scheduled date for holding the election.
This is the third time in a row the election for the Congress president has been postponed amid speculation that Rahul Gandhi will again take up the reins of the party.
Addressing a Press conference after the CWC meet, AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal said the committee members felt that this was not the right time to conduct elections. “All energy should be channelised to provide relief and support work. It was unanimously decided to defer elections further temporarily,” Venugopal said.
The post of Congress president has remained vacant since party leader Rahul Gandhi resigned after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
When the discussion was initiated by Sonia Gandhi to hold the polls, senior leaders like Ashok Gehlot, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma said there is no need for elections at this time due to Covid-19.
By the time Sonia had informed the meeting that the party’s Central Election Authority chief Madhusudan Mistry had already worked out a schedule.
The issue of leadership is crucial as the group of 23 Congress dissenters (G-23) had been pushing for a revamp of the party organisation. Some prominent G-23 members such as Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma are also members of the CWC.
The grand old party has been waiting for a president for almost two years now. Rahul Gandhi, who had assumed the post in 2017, had resigned as the party president after Congress lost the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Since then, the party has been operating under the aegis of Sonia Gandhi as interim president. The CWC has postponed the election for the Congress president thrice now.