Sonia Gandhi has to be full-fledged Congress chief, Rahul not willing: Moily

Former Union Law Minister and Congress leader M Veerappa Moily on Thursday opined that Sonia Gandhi should become the full-fledged president of the Congress party. He contended that she should not remain an ‘interim’ president. Maintaining that the party should not be left in an uncertain situation, Moily reckoned that someone had to take up responsibility, Moreover, he alleged that former President Rahul Gandhi was unwilling to be active on the political scene.  

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Moily remarked, "I feel that she should be the President, not to be called as interim President... should not be left in this kind of an uncertain situation.” He added, "In the absence of any other arrangement, particularly when Rahulji is not willing to be active, I think somebody has to take up the responsibility and she would not like the Congress to be left behind without a leader. According to me, she has to be full-fledged President.” 

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Longest-serving president of Congress party 

Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the Congress party. After being at the helm of affairs for 19 years which witnessed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) emerging victorious in 2004 as well as the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, her son Rahul Gandhi assumed charge in December 2017. A series of defeats in state elections combined with the disastrous performance of Congress in the 2019 General elections, Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to step down. After attempts to persuade him to take back his resignation failed, Sonia Gandhi assumed interim charge in August. This was followed by two developments. First, Rahul Gandhi has stayed away from many important meetings, including the candidate selection for the recently held Assembly elections and bypolls in several states. The other change has been that his mother has reversed key decisions taken by him such as replacing Ashok Tanwar with Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Haryana. 

(With PTI inputs)

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