Congress to get full-time president by September 2022

New Delhi, Dec 29: The Congress will get its full-time president by September 2022. The election to the party president is crucial as the grand-old party has been facing internal rifts in multiple states, besides pressure from senior party leaders calling for sweeping changes and an organisational restructuring.

"As per schedule decided by Congress Working Committee, the election process for the post of Congress president will be completed by September: Madhusudan Mistry, president, Congress' Central Election Authority," Madhusudan Mistry, president of the Congress' Central Election Authority was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Sonia Gandhi took over as the interim Congress president in August 2019 after Rahul Gandhi resigned in the wake of the party's Lok Sabha debacle in May 2019.

There have been demands from a section of Congress leaders for having a full-time and active party president as well as an organisational overhaul.

The demand became intense after a storm in the party in August last year over a letter to Sonia Gandhi by the group of 23 leaders, including Azad, Sharma, Bhupinder Hooda, Prithviraj Chavan, Kapil Sibal, Manish Tewari and Mukul Wasnik, raising these issues.

Various party leaders, including chief ministers Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh and Charanjit Singh Channi of Punjab have backed Rahul Gandhi to take over as the president.