New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: As the Congress Working Committee - party's top decision-making body - meets on Monday, a decision may be taken on appointing a "full-time" president demanded by around top 20 leaders of the party in their letter to Sonia Gandhi. There are reports in the media that Sonia Gandhi may offer her resignation even as the Congress termed them "false". The letter has also divided the Congress party in two sections - Gandhi family loyalists and Congress ideologues.
While Gandhi family loyalists have come out in support of Sonia Gandhi and threw their weight behind her son Rahul Gandhi's return as party chief, another section wants someone from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Rahul Gandhi himself has supported the demand of a non-Gandhi Congress chief, so is her sister and party's general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. According to reports, both Rahul and Priyanka are reluctant to take up the leadership role and may support someone from outside their family.
However, it is almost certain that a new Congress chief would be a Sonia and Rahul Gandhi loyalist even if he or she is not from the Nehru-Gandhi family. There are speculations that Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, a staunch Congressman and Sonia Gandhi loyalist can be the Congress party's choice for non-Gandhi chief.
Besides Gehlot, several other names - Mukul Wasnik, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sushil Kumar Shinde are the other probable candidates for the Congress president. Around 20 top Congress leaders have written a letter to Sonia Gandhi calling for sweeping reforms and "a full-time, effective leadership".
Besides leadership change, the letter reportedly signed by leaders like Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Veerrapa Moili among a few others have also called for decentralisation of power and elections to pick the members of the Congress Working Committee - the top decision-making body of the party.
Posted By: Shashikant Sharma
