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What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that whoever becomes the president of the Congress party should remember that he represents a set of ideas, a belief system, and the vision of India.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that whoever becomes the president of the Congress party should remember that he represents a set of ideas, a belief system, and the vision of India.
Addressing a press conference in Kerala’s Ernakulam, Rahul Gandhi said, “The party president’s post is not a position but a belief system that represents India.”
Responding to a question as to what advice he would give to those contesting for the role of the president of Congress, Rahul said, “The Congress president is not just an organisation post, but an ideological one. Whoever becomes the Congress president should remember that he represents an idea, a belief system, and a vision of India.”
Rahul Gandhi, who is spearheading the party’s 3,750 km long Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, also backed the party’s “one man, one post” rule.
The indication by the Gandhi scion means that Rajasthan Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, believed to be the frontrunner for the Congress president post, may not get a chance to play a double role.
In an interesting development, veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh is scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. The meeting raised speculation that the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister might also contest for the post of party president.
Meanwhile, sources also indicated that veteran leaders Kamal Nath and Manish Tewari might also contest the presidential polls.
When asked about the one man, one post resolution passed by the party during the three-day Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, the Congress Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad said, “We have made a commitment in Udaipur. I expect that will be maintained.”
Gehlot, 71, is said to be the choice of the Gandhi family for Congress president. But Gehlot does not want to give up the role of Rajasthan Chief Minister.
Congress is witnessing an election for the post of president after a gap of 21 years. Sonia Gandhi remained at the top post of the party for 18 years, from 2000 to 2017. In 2017, Rahul Gandhi became the party chief. But he quit after the 2019 Lok Sabha election drubbing. Since then, Sonia Gandhi has been holding the post of interim Congress chief.
On Thursday, Congress CEA Chairman Madhusudan Mistry issued the notification of the party president’s election.
When asked about the need for the Bharat Jodo Yatra which is currently going through Kerala, Rahul Gandhi said, “We are fighting a machine that has captured the institutional framework of this country, that has unlimited money and the ability to buy, pressurise, and threaten people. The outcome of that is what you have seen in Goa.”
“This Yatra is meant to put forward to the people of India that the hatred and violence that is seen in India currently is not good for the country. Humility has always been a feature of India and that has been attacked by the current government,” he said.
“There is a link between the spread of hate by the BJP-RSS combine, the concentration of capital by a chosen few, the gross unemployment rate and the massive inflation spike. The people of India are beginning to realise that.”
To a question about the NIA and the ED searches on the premises of the Popular Front of India (PFI), he said, “All forms of communalism, regardless of where they come from, should be combated. There should be zero tolerance towards it.”
