The Congress is reviving its outreach to the people with its Bharat Jodo Yatra mass contact programme, senior party leaders are busy with other interests like leadership. Now that the party’s presidential election is just weeks away, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday passed a resolution re-appointing Rahul Gandhi as the Congress chief.
After a meeting last month, the party’s top decision-making body the Congress Working Committee (CWC) announced that the polls for the key post would be held on October 17 and the results would be announced on October 18. Rajasthan minister PS Chachariyawa said on Saturday that a resolution was taken that whatever “the national president (Sonia Gandhi) decides, including the appointment of heads of state, will be accepted.” “Another resolution was moved by Chief Minister Gehlot to appoint Rahul Gandhi as party chief,” he added.
However, Rahul Gandhi clarified his opinion on the matter. “There is no confusion at all in my mind. Whether I will become the (Congress) president or not will be clear when the presidential election is held,” he said recently between internal calls. The issue of leadership – amid barbs from rival barbs – has been a major concern of the grand old party for some time. BJP leaders, among other critics, have frequently attacked the party, accusing it of dynastic politics and saying that the party does not want to look beyond Gandhi. Multiple poll setbacks since 2014, infighting and exits by veterans, including the recent exit of Ghulam Nabi Azad, were among the many issues bedeviling the Congress.
