Caravan News
NEW DELHI — As Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has turned down requests to take over as Congress president, Congress leaders, according to sources, are now waiting for the return of Rahul Gandhi, who is in the US, to decide the issue in the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet.
Priyanka Gandhi, according to sources, has told senior Congress leaders that there is no question of her taking the top post; she would rather continue to serve the party in her current role.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet in the coming days soon after outgoing party chief Rahul Gandhi returns to India, said a senior party leader on Wednesday.
Senior Congress leader P.L. Punia told IANS: “The CWC will sit in the coming week to decide on a new party chief.”
He said the CWC, the party’s top decision making body, will decide on the names.
The Congress has been flailing since Rahul Gandhi stepped down just two years after taking over from his mother Sonia Gandhi, owning responsibility for the party’s second straight defeat in the national election. He urged the party to look for a new chief, a non-Gandhi.
According to a report, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and General Secretary Harish Rawat the CWC would be called in August to discuss the new party chief and it would not be fair to herald a guess ahead of the meeting.
“Currently the discussions over the new party are taking place at every level of the party.”
This, Rawat said, was happening for the first time.
Rahul Gandhi resigned as the Congress President after the party suffered a rout in the Lok Sabha elections.
“But his resignation has not been accepted by the CWC yet,” Rawat said.
“So technically it cannot be said that the party is headless. So, the CWC will decide on his resignation and a temporary arrangement will be made,” Harish Rawat said
The party is also reportedly mulling the idea of a Presidium system and of having several Working Presidents.
(With inputs from IANS)
