New Delhi, Aug 23: The detailed schedule for the election of the Congress president will be out soon and the whole process in all likelihood will be completed around the given time-frame of September 20 without any “major postponement”, party sources said on Tuesday.
Uncertainty over party presidency is looming large with several party insiders saying Rahul Gandhi has not changed his stance of not becoming AICC president.
The party’s election authority has said it will stick to the schedule of electing a new chief by September 20.
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Chairman of the party’s Central Election Authority Madhusudan Mistry had said it was up to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to approve the final date for the election of the Congress chief but “from our side, we are ready”.
“The detailed schedule for the election of the Congress president will be out soon and the whole process in all likelihood will be completed around the given time-frame of September 20 without any major postponement,” a top source said.
Asked if there could be a delay in the schedule announced, the source said there may be a delay of just a few days, if at all.
“It won’t be that the election will be postponed to November,” the source said.
After a crucial meeting of its working committee, the Congress had announced in October last year that the election of the new Congress president will be held between August 21 and September 20 this year.
Rahul Gandhi had resigned as Congress president after the party suffered its second consecutive defeat in parliamentary elections in 2019. Sonia Gandhi who took over the reins of the party again as interim president had also offered to quit in August 2020 after an open revolt by a section of leaders, referred to as G-23, but the CWC had urged her to continue.
There have been several calls by leaders publicly exhorting Rahul Gandhi to become party chief again but uncertainty and suspense continue to loom over the party’s presidency conundrum.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said the party is “unanimously” in favour of Rahul Gandhi for the post.
“If Rahul Gandhi does not become the party president, it will be a disappointment for the Congress workers in the country. Many people will sit at home and we will suffer. He (Rahul Gandhi) should accept this post by himself, understanding the sentiments of the common Congress people in the country,” Gehlot had told reporters in Jaipur.
The chief minister said that within the party, there is an opinion in favour of making Rahul Gandhi the new president.
“The unanimous opinion is in support of his becoming the president. So, I think he should accept it. It is not about Gandhi or non-Gandhi family. It is the work of the organisation and no one is becoming a prime minister,” he had said. (PTI)
