Gandhis will lead: CWC sets rumours to rest

New Delhi: In what is considered an anticlimax to the reports that did the rounds a day ahead of the Congress Working Committee(CWC) meeting on Sunday, the party top brass unanimously reaffirmed’ faith in the leadership of party president Sonia Gandhi even as a section of leaders vociferously batted for making Rahul Gandhi party president again.

The speculative reports had even claimed that the Gandhis may resign from their posts to make way for a new leadership in the wake of the abysmally poor show of the party in the five state polls. However Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said “Every single member of the CWC wants Sonia Gandhi to guide the party till organisational elections are held.”

Meanwhile, the clamour for handing over the top job to Rahul grew louder with several leaders and workers voicing support for him. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said no one was taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Gandhi does and he was fighting resolutely.

‘’The prime minister has to start his speech after targeting Rahul Gandhi, you can understand what this means. All of us want that Rahul ji should take on the mantle of party leadership,” Gehlot told reporters. Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar too backed the idea to make Gandhi the party chief.

Rahul had resigned as Congress president after the party suffered its second consecutive defeat in general elections in 2019. Sonia Gandhi, who took over as interim president, had also offered to quit in August 2020 after criticism by a section of leaders, referred to as G-23, but the CWC had urged her to continue.

The Congress will hold a Chintan Shivir immediately after the Budget Session of Parliament and the CWC will meet again before that. The party lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party, could not wrest Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur from the BJP and the party’s tally in Uttar Pradesh fell to its lowest in the recent polls. — PTI