Congress to decide on schedule to select new party president

Elect party president

Congress to decide on schedule to select new party president this Sunday.
Current Congress president Sonia Gandhi will preside over the Congress Working Committee meeting

The Central Election Authority of the Congress is awaiting nod from the party’s working committee to announce the schedule for electing the next Congress President as the grand old party is still in search of a consensus candidate for the top post after refusal from Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, will hold a virtual meeting on Sunday to approve the exact schedule of dates for the election of the Congress president.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will preside over the CWC meeting.

“A virtual meeting of the CWC will be held on the 28th August, 2022 at 3:30 PM, to approve the exact schedule of dates for the election of the Congress president. Congress president Smt. Sonia Gandhi will preside over the CWC meeting,” Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said on Twitter.

The Congress president will join the meeting virtually from abroad as she is travelling for medical check-ups. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are also accompanying her.

There have been several calls by leaders publicly exhorting Rahul Gandhi to become party chief again but uncertainty and suspense continue to loom over the party’s presidency conundrum.

Rahul Gandhi had resigned as Congress president after the party suffered its second consecutive defeat in parliamentary elections in 2019.

Sonia Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party again as interim president had also offered to quit in August 2020 after an open revolt by a section of leaders, referred to as G-23, but the CWC had urged her to continue.