Back'Will persuade Rahul Gandhi to take over Congress presidency': Salman Khurshid
Khurshid said ‘100 per cent’ the rank and file of the party wants Rahul Gandhi to lead
PremiumSenior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Sunday said that they party members would persuade Rahul Gandhi to take over the party's presidency. Rahul Gandhi is accompanying his mother Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for a health check up abroad.
The Gandhis joined the Congress Working Committee meeting on Sunday virtually where it was decided that the election for the post of Congress party's President will be held on 17 October and counting will be done on 19 October.
Asked whether Rahul Gandhi remains the choice of party leaders, Khurshid said to PTI, "Frankly from everybody that I have spoken to or I have sensed their opinion, he remains the number one (choice) and he remains the only one."
"We haven't got into any conversations beyond that...we have no indications as to whether he will accept our request. Today, it was not possible to dwell on that because it was just the scheduling and it was all very difficult because it was a hybrid meeting," Khurshid, a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee, told PTI.
"When he comes back I am sure we would want to persuade him," Khurshid said.
Khurshid said "100 per cent" the rank and file of the party wants Rahul Gandhi at the helm.
The Congress had announced in October last year that the election of the new party president will be held between August 21 and September 20 this year.
Congress leader and MP from Kerala's Wayanad Rahul Gandhi had resigned as the Congress president after the party's second consecutive defeat in the Lok Sabha election in 2019.
Sonia Gandhi then took over as the interim president. She had offered to quit in August 2020 after an open revolt by the G-23 members, but the CWC had urged her to continue.
Names of several party veterans, including Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, have come up for the next president's post, reports Hindustan Times. This comes amid reports that Rahul Gandhi has refused to return as the party chief.
On Wednesday, Gehlot had also mentioned efforts will be made till the last minute to persuade Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the party again. Gehlot's remarks came a day after he met Sonia Gandhi, triggering the buzz that the two may have discussed the possibility of him being the next party president.
This comes amid a probable crisis within the party owing to senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Indian National Congress. Further,G-23 leaders, who had written to Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi (seeking reforms in the party) on Saturday met with the former Congress leader at his Delhi home. It was reported that the reform seeking letter had been authored by Azad himself.
The grand old party has seen a number of high profile exits over the past few months, including that of Kapil Sibal, Sunil Jakhar, Amarinder Singh, RPN Singh and Ashwani Kumar.
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