Is Congress setting the stage for the return of the Gandhi scion as the head of the family?
That seems to be the mood as Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh units of the party on Saturday passed resolutions to make Rahul Gandhi party chief once again.
Speaking to the media on Sunday, Chhattisgarh Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said, “Chhattisgarh Congress Committee and Rajasthan Congress Committee have made this proposal. It has been done in two states, but if this proposal comes from other states too, then Rahul Gandhi should rethink this matter.”
On Saturday, a meeting of the Congress Committee was held in Rajasthan, which also passed a resolution stating that Rahul Gandhi should be made Congress chief.
Speaking to the media, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said, “Two proposals were passed in the PCC meeting. One to make Rahul Gandhi Congress Chief and the decision to make a new Rajasthan PCC chief has been left to the high command of the Congress party.”
The Congress PCCs are passing a resolution stating that “we authorise the incoming Congress president to appoint PCC and AICC members.”
The move comes ahead of the elections for the post of the president of the Grand Old Party after a gap of 21 years.
Earlier on September 15, Congress clarified that any resolution passed by the state units would have no bearing on the election of the new party president.
The clarification from the grand old party came after some media reports stated that the top leadership of the Congress has ordered all the state units to pass a resolution before September 20.
As per the resolution, interim president Sonia Gandhi will be asked to nominate all state unit chiefs and members of the All India Congress Committee.
Following the new order, questions have arisen once again regarding internal democracy in Congress.
On Thursday, Congress Central Election Authority (CEA) chairperson Madhusudan Mistry said, “There was some misunderstanding yesterday among the people, which I came to know. This is because the resolution process will not have any bearing on the election process for the party chief. This is an independent process and under this process, from September 24 to September 30, the nomination will take place.”
Mistry also said that each state will pass a one-line resolution that authorises the Congress President to appoint PCC and AICC members.
Following this, in each state, PCC delegates are holding a meeting and passing resolutions that will authorise the incoming President to appoint PCC chiefs and AICC delegates. However, state units are passing resolutions on their own that Rahul Gandhi has handed over the baton to lead the Congress as its next leader.
Rahul Gandhi has so far held the card close to his chest as far as the Congress President poll is concerned.
While addressing a press conference on September 9 in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari, he had said that if he did not file the nomination, then he should be asked why he was against taking the lead and he would answer.
Rahul Gandhi quit the top post in May 2019 after a drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections. His mother, Sonia Gandhi, was the interim chief in August 2018 after a gap of three years.
Sonia Gandhi held the post of party chief from 2000 to 2017 for a record 18 years.