CWC meeting after Parliament Session to finalise new Congress president

The long-pending suspense over who would take the mantle of Congress after the resignation of Rahul Gandhi may soon come to an end as the party has decided that a Congress Working Committee meeting on the issue will be held after the culmination of the ongoing parliament session.

New Delhi [India], Aug 1 : The long-pending suspense over who would take the mantle of Congress after the resignation of Rahul Gandhi may soon come to an end as the party has decided that a Congress Working Committee meeting on the issue will be held after the culmination of the ongoing parliament session.

"CWC meeting will be held after the parliament session gets over, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said after the meeting of General Secretaries at the Congress Headquarters earlier on Thursday.

The current session of Parliament has been extended by two weeks up to August 7 to enable passage of pending government legislation.

The working committee meeting of Congress was held for the preparation of Rajiv Gandhi's 75th Birth Anniversary but the crisis in the party was also discussed.

According to top party sources, senior Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul will be present in the meeting, which is going to be called just after the conclusion of the parliament session.

Congress general secretary for UP East Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has already made it clear, time and again, that she will not hold the post of Congress president. Her brother, Rahul has also voiced his opinion about no one from Gandhi family holding the post.

It is expected that a provisional president of the party can be appointed in the meeting if the members fail to come to a consensus on a name or a group of leaders will be authorized by the CWC to take call for the party president after consulting the party men and second CWC will be called to give final nod on the decision.

Rahul Gandhi, now an MP from Wayanad in Kerala became the Congress president in 2017. He offered to step down from his post at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on May 25, taking moral responsibility for the party's drubbing in the 17th Lok Sabha elections.

Many protests and scores of resignations have also come to the fore to stop Rahul Gandhi from resigning. All the Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states met Gandhi in Delhi to advice him to reconsider his decision to resign but of no avail.

The Congress won 52 seats in the recent general elections, which is just eight more than its 2014 Lok Sabha results.

( With inputs from ANI )