Around two and half years after he quit the party leadership over the 2019 Lok Sabha election debacle, Rahul Gandhi appears to be getting ready to retake the reins of Congress, though only around August-September 2022, ruling out dissident G-23 call for early internal polls.
The assumption of the party chief’s position is expected to potentially place Rahul Gandhi in a position to lead the party into the 2024 parliamentary elections. For now, Sonia Gandhi will continue to be party chief.
Sonia rebuffed the dissident criticism that the party lacks a “full-time” leadership, saying she is very much “hands-on” and has taken on the government and worked with like-minded opposition parties.
“So let us all have a free and honest discussion. But what should get communicated outside the four walls of this room is the collective decision of the CWC,” Sonia told a meeting of the party’s top body – the Congress Working Committee- on Saturday.
After a prolonged debate over organisational election, an issue that has been espoused by the dissident bloc, G-23, Congress on Saturday announced the poll schedule, which will culminate with the election of the party president by September 20, 2022. It means the new president will get elected on schedule as the five-year term of the earlier election ends then.
Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said the internal electoral process would be set in motion from November 1 this year, with enrolment of primary membership. Elections to the block, district and state level Congress committees will be held between April and September next year, which will culminate in the election of the AICC president between August 21 and September 20, 2022. The next CWC, Venugopal said, will subsequently be constituted at the Congress plenary, the date of which will be announced later.
