Top Congress leaders will meet here on Saturday, August 10, to look for a successor to outgoing party president Rahul Gandhi amid calls for handing over the leadership baton to youth such as Jyotiraditya Scindia or Sachin Pilot.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of senior leaders voicing concern over the crisis the party has found itself in after Rahul made public his intention to step down from the leadership role owning up responsibility for the Lok Sabha elections debacle.
A string of senior leaders have quit the Congress since its electoral loss in late May and Rahul’s imminent exit has also sparked off infighting in several state units, particularly in Haryana and Jharkhand which go to polls in October along with Maharashtra.
“It has been decided to hold the next Congress Working Committee (CWC) Meeting on Saturday, 10th of August, 11 am at AICC," AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said on Twitter.
On the discussion table would be: appointing an interim president, calling for internal elections or setting up a presidium comprising a mix of youth and veteran leaders.
While the veteran leaders had shortlisted three names— Sushilkumar Shinde, Mallikarjun Kharge and Mukul Wasnik as Congress president, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has publicly expressed support for a young leader for the top party post.
On Sunday, former Union minister Milind Deora, considered to be a close confidant of Rahul, gave the call for the appointment of either Jyotiraditya Scindia or Sachin Pilot as the next Congress president.
Saturday’s meeting of the CWC would be the first since Rahul had announced his decision to quit as party chief on May 25.
The CWC had rejected his resignation and had authorised him to restructure the party at all levels. Rahul, however, issued a public statement on July 3 and made it clear that he will not continue as president and neither will any member of his family be the next chief.
Though Rahul had ruled out the possibility of a Gandhi family member succeeding him, several leaders such as Amarinder Singh and Shashi Tharoor had pitched for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as Rahul’s successor.
Priyanka and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had both ruled out taking over the party leadership.
