NEW DELHI: As the Winter Session of the Parliament is scheduled to begin on December 7, sources said that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge may continue as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
If the party decides to continue with Kharge as LoP, it will be flouting the principle of ‘one person one post commitment, staunchly endorsed by Rahul Gandhi too. In its Udaipur ‘Chintan Shivir’, the party had pitched one post to one person as a major reform measure, which needs to be implemented at all levels of the party. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot withdrew from the AICC chief race after Rahul Gandhi stuck to the one post, one leader concept.
During a public meeting in September, Rahul Gandhi stressed that Congress is committed to following the Udaipur declaration of the ‘one post, one man’ policy. This was perceived as a stern message to Gehlot, who wanted to keep both the CM and Congress President posts. Gehlot took a U-turn after Rahul Gandhi’s message.
According to sources, the party may decide on a Rajya Sabha leader in the Parliamentary Party’s ‘strategy group’ meeting on Saturday. The meeting is being called by Sonia Gandhi. The group has 10 members including Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury among others.
Kharge resigned as the Leader of the Opposition on September 29, after filing the nomination for the party chief post. This aligned with the party’s ‘one leader, one post’ policy adopted in the Udaipur Chintan Shivir declaration. Sticking to the party line, Kharge tendered his resignation to former party President Sonia Gandhi.
Kharge took charge as Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House in February 2021 after the
retirement of Ghulam Nabi Azad. After Kharge’s resignation, the names of senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Digvijay Singh, and Pramod Tiwari have been doing the rounds as the front runners for the post. Party insiders said that Kharge will continue as the Rajya Sabha leader at least for the winter session of Parliament and the party will take a call on his replacement later. “As senior leaders are occupied with Bharat Jodo Yatra, the party feels that Kharge should continue for the time being,” said a leader.