NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on November 20 where Rahul Gandhi’s pending elevation as the next party chief might be approved.
The meeting of the CWC, the most powerful body in the Congress that takes all key policy decisions, comes amid speculation over announcement of the schedule for the election to the post of the party president.
The CWC meet comes a day after the party will celebrate the birth anniversary of icon and former prime minister Indira Gandhi on November 19.
Mullapally Ramachandran, chairman of the Central Election Authority, which is supervising the Congress internal elections had submitted a schedule last month for the post of party president to Sonia Gandhi but she could not convene a CWC meeting to approve the same due to her ill health.
As part of the internal polls, most state units have already passed resolutions urging Rahul to take over as the next party president. Last year, the CWC too had passed a unanimous resolution urging Rahul to take over as party president.
Rahul’s elevation was likely to have taken place by October end but got postponed as the party got busy with assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh on November 9 and the December 9 and 14 Gujarat elections.
Last week, there was buzz in the party circles that Rahul’s elevation had been deferred till the Gujarat poll result on December 18.
Sonia became Congress president in 1998 and was elected to the post in 2000, becoming the longest serving party chief. Her extension as party chief ends in December by when the Congress would have to intimate the Election Commission about the new party chief or whether Sonia would continue for another year.
Rahul became party vice president in 2013. After being promoted, he is expected to announce a new team of AICC office bearers to prepare the Congress for the 2019 national elections.
Party workers had been demanding Rahul’s elevation since the Congress lost the 2014 national polls but the issue could not be taken up as the party suffered a series of electoral reverses in states. Besides, Rahul preferred an election route than being named party chief by Sonia.
Sources said the schedule for election to the post of Congress president may span two to three weeks. The elected state unit and AICC delegates would vote in the poll.