NEW DELHI: As the demand for the appointment of a new Congress chief gets stronger after Rahul Gandhi’s resignation, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is likely to meet in the first week of August to take a call on the issue.
Owing responsibility for the party’s debacle in Lok Sabha elections, Rahul had tendered his resignation on May 25 at the CWC meeting and insisted that the party chooses a new president. For the last two months, there has been a state of confusion in the party over the party leadership.
Demands have been growing within the party for the CWC, the party’s highest decision-making body, to call a meeting and find a new party chief. Veteran Congress leaders like Karan Singh, Janardan Dwivedi and Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh have raised concerns over the ongoing situation in the party. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has termed it as a crisis.
However, K C Venugopal, AICC organisational in charge, said there is no leadership crisis in the party and Rahul is party chief till his resignation is accepted by the CWC. “CWC will meet by August first week to discuss issues related to Congress president,” he said.
He is also scheduled to hold a meeting of all AICC general secretaries and state in-charges on July 31. “The meeting is to discuss preparations for the birth anniversary of former PM Rajiv Gandhi next month. But issues related to party president and Assembly polls in three states may also come up,” said party sources.
As per party constitution, senior-most party general secretary or organisation secretary can call for a CWC meeting and choose an interim president that can later be clarified at the AICC session. Many party leaders have called for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking over as the chief.