Gujarat top priority for Rahul as party chief

Seeking to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his home state, the Congress is expected to soon come up with an alternative to the much-touted Gujarat model of development after Rahul Gandhi’s election as party president.

The feedback received during Rahul’s ongoing Gujarat Navsarjan Yatra will form the basis of the alternative model, which is expected to focus on job creation, helping small entrepreneurs and supporting the agrarian sector that has been going through a lot of turmoil.

The extensive process of holding internal elections, after being nudged by the Election Commission, is also drawing to a close, with almost all the state units of the Congress authorising the party president to appoint state presidents, executive committees and AICC delegates from the respective states.

More than half a dozen Pradesh Congress Committees have also urged that Rahul be appointed as the party president, a transition of power that is expected to take place immediately after the Deepavali festivities.