Change Of Guard - Will Sonia Gandhi Continue As Congress President? Party To Take Decision In April, Say Report

Startled over the disaster in the Delhi Assembly Elections, the Congress party is looking for an overhaul, latest media report said on Thursday. The changes will begin from the top, the report said. In simple terms this means that the party is likely to take a crucial decision on the tenure of interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. An NDTV report said that the party is likely to take a decision in second week of April whether Sonia Gandhi will continue or not. The longest serving chief in the 137 years of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi has been keeping a low profile due to health concerns.

Sonia Gandhi had taken over as the Congress chief on interim basis after her son and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi stepped down as the party chief following the debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. Rahul Gandhi has so far maintained that he is not ready for the leadership role. He has insisted on a non-Gandhi chief for the Grand Old Party of India. However, the role of the Congress president has largely stayed within the Nehru-Gandhi family. Though there were speculations of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking the mantle but that seems to be far from actualisation.

In August last year, Sonia Gandhi was appointed the interim chief of the Congress party pending the election for the permanent chief. After Rahul Gandhi's denial, the Congress Working Committee unanimously passed another resolution requesting Sonia Gandhi to take over the post of party president as Interim President pending the election of a regular President by the AICC. Sonia Gandhi, who first became the Congress chief in 1998, had handed over the baton to her son Rahul Gandhi in 2017 after leading the party for nearly two decades.

Scoring a duck in Delhi has sparked war of words within the Congress. On Wednesday, PC Chacko announced his resignation from the post of Delhi Congress in-charge. In his parting shot, he blamed Congress stalwart Sheila Dikshit for the poor state of affairs. The Congress failed to open its account in the Delhi. Such was the poor state of affairs that only three Congress leaders managed to save their deposits.

Tiff between two other Congress leaders have come out in open. On Tuesday, former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram posted a tweet congratulating the people of Delhi for defeating the BJP. However, ex-President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter and Delhi Congress leader Sharmishtha Mukherjee questioned Chidambaram’s intent. "AAP won, bluff and bluster lost. The people of Delhi, who are from all parts of India, have defeated the polarising, divisive and dangerous agenda of the BJP. I salute the people of Delhi who have set an example to other states that will hold their elections in 2021 and 2022,” Chidambaram said on Twitter.

To this, Mukherjee replied: "With due respect sir, just want to know- has (Congress) outsourced the task of defeating BJP to state parties? If not, then why are we gloating over AAP victory rather than being concerned about our drubbing? And if 'yes', then we (state Congress units) might as well close shop!"