NEW DELHI: In a significant development, Congress leader Jitin Prasada, whose father Jitendra Prasada had challenged Sonia Gandhi for the post of party president in 2000, moved a resolution at a UP unit meet urging Rahul Gandhi to take over as the next chief soon.
Rahul is expected to become Congress chief after Diwali. The resolution, moved by Jitin at a meeting of Bareilly and Moradabad divisions, was passed unanimously by the leaders of eight districts.
The move came a day ahead of the meeting of newly-elected UP Congress delegates who are expected to pass a similar resolution on Thursday in Lucknow.
As Jitin moved a resolution urging Rahul to take over as Congress chief 17 years after his father had challenged Sonia, the young leader said the mood in the party has changed since then.
“Today Rahul is the only leader nationally who can take on the Modi government. I support Rahul as he represents the very idea of India,” Jitin told The New Indian Express when asked if he ever thought of contesting against Rahul.
After much persuasion from senior leaders Sonia had taken over as Congress chief in 1998 but was formally elected to the post only in 2000. Jitendra Prasada, who contested against Sonia, lost the poll. Unable to bear the shock of his defeat, Prasada passed away soon thereafter.
However, Sonia did not take the matter to her heart. Four years later in 2004, Jitendra Prasada’s son Jitin was elected to the Lok Sabha from hometown Shahjahanpur in western UP for the first time and became the youngest minister in 2008 in PM Manmohan Singh’s cabinet holding the charge of minister of state for steel.
Jitin was again elected to Lok Sabha in 2009 from Dhaurahra constituency and served as junior minister in petroleum and natural gas, road transport and human resource development ministries in UPA II government.
Jitin has been working closely with Rahul over the past years and was even tipped to become the state unit chief ahead of the assembly elections this year.
Reviving the Congress in UP, however, will remain a major challenge for Rahul even after he becomes party president, said sources.
The reasons are obvious. The party has just 2 of the 80 Lok Sabha members from UP and has only 7 lawmakers in the 403 member state assembly. Besides, the organisation has depleted over the past two decades, pushing the party to the margins.