The party is bracing for a generational change in leadership after a gap of nearly 20 years
Rahul Gandhi could be made the Congress President as early as the first week of December, with the party's apex decision-making body — Congress Working Committee (CWC) — set to meet on Monday to take a call.
The party is bracing for a generational change in leadership after a gap of nearly 20 years. Sonia Gandhi had become the Congress President on March 14, 1998, and would have completed 20 years, a record of sorts, had she continued till March next year.
According to a tentative schedule sent by the Congress Election Committee, nomination filing exercise could begin from November 21 and candidates can withdraw their names till December 1. The polls, if necessary, will be held on December 8 and counting would be carried out on December 11.
Talking to reporters, party general secretary (Organisation) Janardan Dwivedi said the dates for the election will be fixed on Monday. He said if only one nomination is filed, Gandhi's elevation can be announced on the date of withdrawal of nominations itself.
This means that Rahul, who has been spearheading the party campaign in Gujarat assembly polls, will be the party president before the polling begins on December 9.
Until now, no Congress leader has indicated about contesting against Gandhi, though the Congress vice-president has been a strong votary of internal elections, from the top to the bottom rung.
Elections for the Congress president's post have happened only twice after independence. Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot had filed nominations against incumbent president Sitaram Kesri in 1997 and lost. Later in 2001, senior Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh, Jitendra Prasada, filed his nomination for the top post, against incumbent Sonia Gandhi and he lost as well.
With the Election Commission (EC) having set a deadline of December 31 for the Congress to complete its organisational elections, the party was running short of time. Quite recently, the chairman of Congress' Central Election Authority Mullappally Ramchandran, who was looking after the party's organisational polls, had written to Sonia Gandhi to convene CWC and announce the election schedule for the new Congress president early.
The entire election schedule will be around a fortnight long. The state Congress committees have already submitted resolutions to the leadership, seeking Rahul as the new president.
The Congress vice-president's elevation has been in speculation for more than three years. When recently it became clear that the Congress has finally decided on Rahul's presidency, there was a view that he should be taking over as the party president only after November 19, the 100thbirth anniversary of Indira Gandhi.
Now the spotlight will on Sonia Gandhi's next role, at a time when Congress is trying to arrive at maximum possible Opposition unity. A number of Opposition leaders have indicated their preference for Sonia remaining in the lead role.
There are speculations that she could continue to be the Congress Parliamentary Party chairman or UPA chairperson, a post she held during the last two UPA alliances led by Congress. Rahul, 47, a three-term Lok Sabha MP from the family pocket borough Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, became AICC general secretary in September 2007, before he was elevated as vice-president on January 19, 2013. He also nurtured the Youth Congress and party's student wing NSUI, as AICC's general secretary in-charge.
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