Rahul could be Congress president by October

Rahul Gandhi might become Congress president ahead of the crucial Gujarat elections, with the party announcing the schedule for the much-delayed organisational elections.

The process of organisational elections will commence on May 15 and culminate in the election of the party president on October 15.

The conduct of the internal elections, which should have been held in 2015, was fixed for October after prodding from the Election Commission to complete the process by December.

The party had been delaying it citing difficulty in upgrading the list of members due to successive Assembly elections.

On November 7, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had asked Rahul to take charge as party president, a request he had acceded to.

The CWC is expected to meet again early next month to deliberate on the election outcome and discuss the convening of the AICC plenary that ratifies the election of the president.

Incumbent president Sonia Gandhi (70) was appointed the Congress President in 1998, after the then Sitaram Kesri was ousted by the CWC, the party’s highest decision-making body.

There is still no clarity on the role Sonia Gandhi will play after the organisational elections, though there has been speculation that she will be heading  the Parliamentary party.

The new Congress president will have his task cut out — revival of the party, which has witnessed an exodus after the severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections; internal changes to the organisation and playing the sheet anchor role for other Opposition parties to counter the aggressive BJP, working  under the leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.