From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Chorus for Rahul Gandhi to take over as the Congress President forthwith prevailed at the AICC headquarters here in the closed-door Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting as also outside by the Youth Congress members, with Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel silencing those blaming him for the poll debacle.
They and other leaders turned the tables on those pushing for Rahul Gandhi and his sister AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as responsible for the worst results in the five Assembly elections early this week. Instead they called for Rahul to return to the helm of the party instead of the backseat driving on behalf of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Party sources said at least 4-5 rebels from the Group of 23, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik, present in the meeting preferred not to launch the expected attack on the Gandhis, except to call for expediting the organisational elections and not wait till October for the election of the new party president and the CWC members. No use of the blame game at this crucial time when the Congress is in bad shape, the rebels were stating.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who chaired the 5-hour long CWC meeting, did not give her mind at the opening as her opening remarks were not circulated unlike in the past. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is not in good health, and former defence minister A K Antony, down with Covid, were prominent among half a dozen seniors who did not attend.
The CWC decided that Sonia will continue as the party president and she would again call another CWC meeting for rehauling the party. Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge said: “Congress president Sonia will lead us and will take future steps. We all have faith in her leadership. There were no resignations by Rahul or Priyanka as speculated a day earlier in the TV media.
Sources said Sonia, who is at the helm since August 2019 after Rahul suddenly quit on the Lok Sabha poll drubbing, had offered to quit to prevent heat on her children but it was rejected by the CWC.
Ahead of the meeting, Ashok Gehlot set the tone calling for Rahul to take over as the president to ensure the party remains united. He said winning and losing are part of politics and it should not be used to oust anyone from the leadership. He said the Congress lost because of the BJP’s “dangerous politics” of misleading the people in the name of Hindutva. Baghel also criticised those trying to attack the Gandhis because of the bad results.
“They talk about the family, but the reality is that no one from the family has become the prime minister, chief miniser or minister. But why the leadership of the party is still given to them? (Because) peoplee of all sections and religions have faith in the family and the family is necessary to strengthen the Congress,” Gehlot asserted.
Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar tweeted that Rahul “should take up the Congress presidency in a full-time role immediately. This is the wish of millions of Congress workers like me.”
Youth Congress chief Srinivas B V said the Gandhi family is the “thread that binds together not only the Congress but all sections of the country and it is not dependent on any electoral victory or defeat.”
