'Inauspicious time': Congress chief election delayed again, final call on Aug 28

New Delhi, Aug 25: The process for the election of Congress president has been delayed again with several party leaders publicly exhorting Rahul Gandhi to become party chief. A final decision on this will be out on August 28, when the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will hold a virtual meeting.

The party has cited an "inauspicious period" before the festivals besides Rahul Gandhi's resistance to the top role," according to a NDTV report.

Sonia Gandhi and the party have been saying that Congress would have its new president by September 20.

It is, meanwhile, learnt that the G-23 is keeping a close watch at the election process and its transparency.

The grouping comprising prominent veterans including former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and his deputy Anand Sharma, besides Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Manish Tewari, has been insisting on genuine elections right from the block up to the CWC level.

As of today, there is no clarity on whether Rahul Gandhi will agree to run for the Congress president's post, with large sections of the party noting that he seemed "disinterested".

In May 2019, Sonia Gandhi had agreed to become interim president of the party after Rahul Gandhi resigned following the Congress loss in general elections.

Even at that time, an extensive CWC consultation had favoured Rahul Gandhi to continue and urged him to do so. After he declined the party's highest decision-making body requested Sonia Gandhi to step in.

For several months after May 2019, there was complete silence within the Congress circles on the election of a full-time party chief until late July 2020 when G-23 leaders in a letter to Sonia Gandhi sought urgent elections across all levels of the party, to revive its sagging electoral fortunes.

Subsequently on October 16, 2021, the CWC approved a tentative schedule for the internal elections, culminating in the poll for the highest position in the party - that of the Congress president.

Meanwhile, there appears to be no formal discussion in the Congress on a non-Gandhi to succeed Sonia Gandhi, with some leaders saying that the incumbent chief might well stay on the top post if this situation of fluidity continues.