Senior Congress leaders who have been demanding elevation of Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday remained silent on the issue during the party’s top decision making body meeting.
“The issue was not on the agenda. One sentence is too long, not even a word was uttered (in the meeting),” AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said in response to questions on whether the Congress Working Committee discussed Rahul’s elevation.
AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh has been demanding that Rahul should take “full-time” charge of the Congress from Sonia Gandhi.
“Those people were present there (at the CWC), but nobody said anything,” Dwivedi said when asked that some people have been calling for Rahul to take a larger role in the party.
Dwivedi said if anyone was claiming to have made such a demand, he would be speaking untruth. Recently, Singh had said that Rahul should take over the leadership of Congress.
He recalled that Congress had always encouraged young leadership and pointed out that Jawaharlal Nehru became AICC president at the age of 38, while Maulana Azad occupied the post at the age of 35. Rahul is 44.
Sonia Gandhi, 68, is the longest serving party chief. She has held the post since March 1998.
DH News Service
Published 13 January 2015, 20:54 IST