With Rahul Gandhi Back in Town, Congress May Pick Party Chief Next Week

There is speculation that a brief Congress circle has already chosen its pick and the CWC meeting will be a formality.

New Delhi: With Rahul Gandhi back in town after an overseas trip, the grapevine is rife that Congress may convene a Congress Working Committee (CWC) next week to pick a party president.

Sources privy to developments say that the meet may take place in a couple of days now.

Reportedly, some names have been shortlisted, but the brainstorming and a final decision will be taken by the CWC itself.

However, there is speculation that a brief Congress circle has already chosen its pick and the CWC meeting will be a formality.

A senior party leader on Saturday assured Rahul Gandhi’s attendance in the upcoming CWC but added that he will not take part in electing his successor.

Rahul Gandhi offered to quit as the Congress president two days after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections result- which handed a humiliating defeat to the Grand Old Party. The Congress was reduced to a mere 52 seat presence in the lower house of Parliament.

His offer to resign was rejected first by the CWC on May 25, two days after the results of General election. Since, Rahul Gandhi resigned time and again, only for a back-and-forth with the party command over his refusal to continue as the Congress chief.

Rahul then finally tweeted his resignation letter on July 3- putting all speculation to rest.

It is an honour for me to serve the Congress Party, whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation.

I owe the country and my organisation a debt of tremendous gratitude and love.

Jai Hind 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/WWGYt5YG4V

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 3, 2019

Earlier this week, Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and General Secretary Harish Rawat told the media, “His (Rahul Gandhi) resignation has not been accepted by the CWC yet… So technically it cannot be said that the party is headless.”

Congress is also reported to be mulling the idea of a Presidium system, and of having several working presidents.