There may be a Congress President from outside family in future: Sonia Gandhi

Former Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that someone from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family could be the party president in near future.

Sonia Gandhi, who was speaking at the India Today Conclave, was asked if there are any chances of someone from outside the family heading the Congress.

Replying to the question, she said, "Why not? In future, there may well be.”

After Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as party president, Congress’s rival and country’s ruling party BJP has been criticising Congress for being a party of “one family”.

Choosing its leader democratically has been Congress party’s old tradition, Sonia said.

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On being asked if the Congress party, which is already hitting the deck, will survive without a leader from Gandhi family, Sonia said, “the question should be put to Congress workers.”

Sonia, the wife of former PM Rajiv referred to the Bush and Clinton dynasties of the US and also to dynasties in several states of India.

Reacting to a question that there is a common political perception among Congress rivals that Sonia Gandhi was in actual power at the time of UPA government when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, she said, "I don't think it was that kind of a situation."

Gandhi also revealed that reason why she sacrificed India’s Prime Ministership, a post many leaders strive for.

"I thought Dr Manmohan Singh would be a better Prime Minister than myself. I knew my limitations,” the UPA chairperson replied.