Rahul all set to be Congress president

 Rahul Gandhi is all set to become the Congress president after he expressed “readiness” to honour the “unanimous sentiments” of the party’s top decision-making body and fulfil the responsibilities bestowed on him.

The Congress Working Committee meeting here on Monday witnessed members urging Rahul, who was appointed vice-president in 2013, to “lead” the fight against communal forces “represented” by the RSS, Sangh Parivar and the BJP.

The “strong sentiments” were voiced at the meeting chaired by Rahul as the 69-year-old Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, stayed away due to ill health.

Rahul is ready to “take on every such challenge” tasked to him by the party and the working committee, former defence minister A K Antony told reporters here.

Rahul would be the sixth member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to become the president of the Congress. Earlier, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi have served as Congress presidents.

Sonia has earned the distinction of being the longest serving Congress president, having been appointed to the post in March 1998 after the Congress Working Committee ousted
the then incumbent Sitaram Kesri.