Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday, 3 July, officially resigned as president of the Congress, taking responsibility for the party’s loss in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“I owe the country and my organisation a debt of tremendous gratitude and love,” Gandhi wrote on Twitter, stating that he was honoured to have served as the Congress president and shared his resignation letter.
Now the hot question is – who will be the next president of the Congress party?
Who are the frontrunners for the position? What will be Priyanka Gandhi’s role in the process? The Quint’s Aditya Menon and Neeraj Gupta analyse the prospects of the party.
“Somebody from the Congress party, especially from the Gandhi family taking responsibility and stepping down is surprising and new. In the CWC meet that was called to analyse the loss of the party, Rahul Gandhi had told Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath that they prioritised their sons’ campaigns over the party’s needs,” said Gupta as he analysed how the party worked to hold people accountable for the party’s performance.
“Rahul did say many in the party requested him to choose the nest President but he did not do so as it would have jeopardised the credibility of the post. The ball is now in Congress Working Committee’s (CWC) court. Now, every member of every Pradesh Congress committee will vote. Ten delegates will nominate the next candidate for the post,” Menon said.
Who Will Succeed Rahul Gandhi?
Speaking about the future prospects of the party, Menon said there are a few names of senior Congress leaders slated to be the Congress president.
“The precedence is that the senior most general secretary of the party takes over temporarily. But if seniority is considered over the number of years spent in the party, then the person might be somebody else. If seniority is decided in terms of day-to-day functioning of the party, then the person may be KC Venugopal. But it all depends on what parameters they define seniority” he added.
The other names, he said, were the frontrunners are Motilal Vohra, Mukul Vasnik, Sushilkumar Shinde, Kamal Nath and Ashok Gehlot among others.
‘Accountability Key to Party’s Growth’: Rahul
“Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress president,” Gandhi said in an open letter shared on Twitter.
He said he has at times felt "alone" in his fight against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS, but is proud of himself. One must shed power to defeat opponents, Gandhi, who has been firm on his decision to quit as party president, said. "We will not defeat our opponents without sacrificing our desire for power," he said.
“The Congress must radically transform itself, it is the party’s duty to defend people’s voices that BJP is crushing,” he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
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