Congress presidential polls to be held next year; Rahul Gandhi 'considering' taking up top post

Election of the new Congress president will be held between 21 August and 20 September next year, the party announced on Saturday after the crucial meeting of its working committee which approved the schedule for organisational polls at various levels. After a nearly five-hour-long meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), Congress general secretary (oganisation) K C Venugopal announced the election schedule which includes a massive membership drive for the polls starting from 1 November 2021 and will go on till 31 March 2022. Venugopal also stated that election of PCC presidents, vice presidents, treasurers, PCC executives and AICC members by PCC general body will be held between 21 July-20 August, 2022. Election of Congress president will be held between 21 August -20 September, 2022, he said. Venugopal also announced that election of CWC members and other bodies by AICC members will take place at a plenary session dates for which will be announced later. As per reports, many leaders at the key meet wanted Rahul Gandhi to take over the mantle again. He had stepped down as chief in 2019 after the party’s poor performance in the 2019 general elections. “Entire Congress party and workers unanimously want Rahul Gandhi as leader,” KC Venugopal was quoted as saying by NDTV. Senior leader Ambika Soni was also quoted as saying by ANI, “Everybody agreed unanimously… whether he (Rahul Gandhi) will become or not is up to him. Everybody is of the opinion that Rahul Gandhi should become the party president.”

Everybody agreed unanimously, whether he (Rahul Gandhi) will become (the party president) or not is up to him. Everybody is of the opinion that Rahul Gandhi should become the party president: Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni after Congress Working Committee meeting, in Delhi pic.twitter.com/KPvbETkoeJ

— ANI (@ANI) October 16, 2021

News18, citing sources, said that he would consider their demand of becoming the chief again. The CWC also passed three resolutions, one on the political situation, and two others on inflation and a “diabolical attack” on India’s farmers, Venugopal said at a press conference with the party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala by his side at the AICC headquarters. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, three Congress chief ministers, among others, attended the meeting, the first such physical meet of the CWC since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in the day, interim party president Sonia Gandhi had said during the meet that she was a full-time president and in an apparent jibe to the dissenting leaders within the party, she added that she appreciated full frankness and wanted them to speak to her directly and not through the media. With inputs from agencies