Congress looks for another ‘Manmohan Singh’ to replace Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, June 12: The grand-old Congress party is looking for a candidate like former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh as a replacement of party president Rahul Gandhi, say sources.

It's notable that Dr Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments in 2004-2009 and 2009-2014. It's an open secret that though Dr Singh was the prime minister, it was then Congress president Sonia Gandhi who was calling the shots.

It's notable that after the party's drubbing in the recently held Lok Sabha elections Rahul Gandhi resigned from the post of Congress president.

Congress could add only eighth seats to its 2014 tally and won only 52 seats out of 542 Lok Sabha seats that went for elections.

After the requests from the party's senior leaders to rethink about his decision, Rahul has agreed to remain on the post till party finds his suitable replacement.

According to the party insiders, since Rahul's resignation has been widely reported he couldn't backtrack even if he desires to do so.

"The Congress high-command is well-aware that Rahul Gandhi's image has been tarnished by the IT cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a systematic and planned manner to an extend that he has become a butt of jokes on the social media. If he takes back his resignation then the BJP's virtual army and leaders would again target Gandhi family and accuse the Congress of being a dynastic party. Moreover, it would not send a good message among the Indians," an insider tells OneIndia.

Therefore, the strategists of the Congress have found a way to not only keep Rahul's prestige intact but also to ensure that the Congress remains in the control of the Gandhi family.

"The senior-most Congress leaders who are staunch loyalists of the Gandhi family have come up with a formula that will safeguard the Gandhi family's hegemony in the party. The formula is to make Dr. Manmohan Singh type leader next Congress president, with a rider that he/she will not be a permanent dummy like Dr Singh," says the insider, adding that the only quality required to replace Rahul is that he/she shouldn't be capable of giving better results than the Gandhi scion.

The game plan is that the Congress should go into upcoming Assembly elections under the leadership of new dummy president, who would resign after the results and pave the way for the honourable return of Rahul Gandhi.

"The new president will be a dummy. All the major decisions will be taken by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. He/she will be given the responsibility of making Congress victorious in the upcoming assembly elections in states like Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Bihar. Since Congress is very weak in these states, therefore it would be very difficult for the new president to give better results than Rahul Gandhi. To be precise, the strategists of the Congress will leave no stone unturned that the party loses very badly," says the insider.

"That would be the time when demands of getting Rahul Gandhi back will be made from across the country. As per the plan, new party president will resign and Rahul will be back," he adds.

According to a political analyst, the Congress will never be able to think beyond the Gandhis as there is not a single leader in the party's highest decision-making body- Congress Working Committee- who is not a Gandhi family loyalist.

"In fact, the only USP of so-called senior Congress leaders is that they are obedient and loyal to the Gandhi family. Therefore, it's in their interest that the Gandhi family remains on the driver's seat of the Congress party. Had they been in a party like the BJP, they would have become history. Gandhi family loyalists will keep on filling-up the CWC vacancies in the future also," says the analyst.

Ever since it has become certain that Rahul Gandhi will not take his resignation back, the Congress leaders assert that it doesn't matter whosoever becomes Congress president the command of the party will always remain in the hands of the Gandhi family.