From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Congress has taken a 3-day Diwali break in its Bharat Jodo Yatra to from Monday to enable its former president Rahul Gandhi heading it as also other seniors to join the coronation of Mallikarjun Kharge (80) at the AICC headquarters here on Wednesday. The Yatra resumes on Thursday, a day after Kharge is installed to replace interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Kharge may seize the opportunity to convene a meeting of the present Congress Working Committee (CWC) and set into motion the election of the new CWC. His immediate task is to handle the upcoming Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat as Rahul Gandhi would not be available for them since he is engrossed in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
In a circular, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal has invited all CWC members, presidents of the state units and AICC office-bearers as also leaders of the Congress legislator parties, MPs, Chief Ministers of Both Rajasthan an Chhattisgarh, as also former chief ministers and ministers in the state governments.
All rebel leaders have been also sent the invitation to attend the ceremony in which Kharge will be handed over the certificate of his election last week. The party sources said almost all rebels have supported Kharge’s candidature and so the rebel group has ceased to exist.
Kharge is taking over aat a time when the Congress is passing through its most difficult phase. Immediately before him are the Assembly elections in the BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh before this year-end. At present, the Congress is in power only in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where too prospects of change of the chief ministers are to be dealt by Kharge. He has the challenge of the Assembly elections in the two states the next month.
