Chorus for Rahul Gandhi as Congress president grows louder, G-23 raises questions on electoral rolls at CWC meet

As the Congress announced the schedule for the election to elect its next president, chorus grew within the party for Rahul Gandhi to take up the job, except the G-23 grouping which raised question on the preparation of electoral rolls for the polls and asked whether due process under the party's constitution was followed or not. 

Soon after the crucial CWC meeting concluded, senior party leader Harish Rawat said that Rahul Gandhi will soon be announced the Congress president. 

Another senior party leader Salman Khursheed said that Rahul Gandhi remains the "number one" and the "only" choice of the Congress rank and file for the party chief's post. 

Khurshid also said efforts will be made to persuade Gandhi to take over the presidency of the party once he returns from abroad.

On the other hand, The Indian Express quoted Prithviraj Chavan, former Maharashtra CM and another G-23 member, saying that while “we will be happy if Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot contests” for the top post if Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are not willing, the party will not survive if someone is made a “puppet president”.

Gehlot on Wednesday had sought to play down reports about him being the frontrunner for the Congress president's post and said efforts will be made till the last minute to persuade Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the party again.

Speaking at the CWC meeting before the party's Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry listed out the schedule for the election of the Congress president, Sharma claimed he has received complaints that neither any virtual nor any physical meeting was held to finalise the electoral rolls, PTI quoted sources as saying.

They said that Sharma, who is among the G-23 dissident leaders, also pointed out that no Pradesh Congress Committee has received any list of delegates who will vote for the Congress president's election and such a process violates the sanctity of the election process.

Facing internal upheaval, the Congress on Sunday announced that the election for its president would be held on October 17, asserting that it is the only party in the country which follows such a democratic exercise.

The result will be declared on October 19. If only one candidate is left in the fray after the withdrawal of nominations, the name of the president will be declared on October 8 itself, the party's Central Election Authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

The party last saw a contest for the post in November 2000. The BJP, which has often criticised the Congress over dynastic politics due to the control of the Gandhi family over it, mocked it as "Mughal-style coronation".

Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving party president and has been at the helm since 1998, barring the two years between 2017-19 when Rahul Gandhi took over.

Jitendra Prasada had lost to Sonia Gandhi in 2000 and prior to that Sitaram Kesri had defeated Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot in 1997.

While many Gandhi loyalists have been pushing for Rahul Gandhi to return to the top post that he quit after the defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he is not keen on assuming the role and wants a non-Gandhi to be at the helm.

The schedule of the election was approved unanimously at the online meeting of the CWC which took place under the shadow of the shock resignation of veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday and his stinging letter to the party president in which he lashed out at Rahul Gandhi for "demolishing the party's entire consultative mechanism".

However, there was no mention of Azad's exit or any leader urging Rahul Gandhi to take over as party chief at the meeting which lasted barely 30 minutes.

Azad was a CWC member and part of the group of 23 dissident leaders who had written to Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 seeking large-scale reforms and an organisational overhaul, including elections at all levels.

The online CWC meeting was presided over by Sonia Gandhi, who is abroad for medical checkups. She was seen flanked by former party chief Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who are accompanying her abroad.

Two days after Azad termed the election process as a "farce and sham" and blamed the leadership for this "fraud", Anand Sharma, another G23 member, raised questions at the CWC meeting on the preparation of electoral rolls for the AICC president's election and asked whether due process under the party's constitution was followed or not, sources said.