Rahul Gandhi to be forced for Congress president post? Coterie avers he is 'only' choice

Even as leaders continue to desert Congress peeved at the leadership, sources revealed that Rahul Gandhi is set to be elected the party president once again. After the Congress Working Committee meeting on Tuesday, the party announced that the election for the president's post will take place on October 17 and the counting of votes shall be held on October 19 if there is more than one candidate in the fray. While this election was scheduled to be held between August 21 and September 20, it was delayed purportedly owing to the focus on the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra'. 

As per sources, the leaders close to the Wayanad MP are aggressively lobbying for his candidature though he is reportedly unwilling to contest the election. For instance, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot who is rumoured to be the frontrunner for this post has insisted that he will convince Rahul Gandhi to take charge of the party. Moreover, former Union Minister Salman Khurshid stressed that Gandhi remains the "number one" and the "only" choice of the Congress rank and file to become the party president.

Echoing similar views, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge remarked, "I have my personal opinion and it is the feeling of all the workers that Rahul Gandhi should become the Congress president. Because he is the only one who can lift the (fortunes of) Congress and unite it". While quitting the party on August 26, Ghulam Nabi Azad dubbed the organizational election process a "sham".

Leadership crisis in Congress

While Sonia Gandhi was at the helm of affairs of Congress for 19 years which witnessed the United Progressive Alliance emerging victorious in 2004 as well as the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, her son Rahul Gandhi replaced her in December 2017. Following a series of defeats in state elections combined with the disastrous performance of Congress in the 2019 General elections, he announced his decision to step down. After attempts to persuade him to take back his resignation failed, Sonia Gandhi assumed interim charge of the party in August 2019.

Even though a group of 23 senior leaders wrote to her on August 23, 2020, expressing concern about the uncertainty in leadership and demanding elections at all levels, the subsequent CWC meetings resolved that the election for the president's post will be held only after the conclusion of the Assembly polls in Assam, Puducherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in 2021. Apart from Tamil Nadu where its alliance with DMK bore fruit, Congress failed to make an impact in the other states. Thereafter, the party delayed the process of electing a new party supremo indefinitely amid the COVID-19 crisis. 

In the recent round of Assembly polls, Congress lost its government in Punjab by winning only 18 out of 117 seats. On the other hand, it also failed to take advantage of the anti-incumbency in Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur as BJP romped to a comfortable victory in these states. Thus, Congress is now in power only in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. While announcing the election schedule on August 28, party general secretary (organization) KC Venugopal clarified that any party worker can file his nomination.