AICC plenary in Bengaluru next month

The Congress is planning to hold its next plenary session, which could end a speculation about Mr Rahul Gandhi’s elevation to the party president, in Bengaluru next month.

Although Rahul loyalists in the AICC indicated that he would become the party chief by September, a section in the Congress still views that Mrs Sonia Gandhi would continue to lead the party at a time when Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur are going to Assembly elections next year. Elections in Gujarat could also be held in 2017.

The Congress has been losing one states after another after its historic debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It is sharing power in Bihar due to the pre-poll alliance with the JD(U)-RJD combine.

“Soniaji is trusting on the tested leaders to deliver. This has become clear after she made Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kamal Nath as AICC general secretaries and kept Gujarat and Rajasthan with Gurudas Kamat,” insiders pointed out.

They said the Congress remained in power at the Centre for 10 years since 2004 due to the Team Sonia and returned to power in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other states because of her.

If Rahul is to be promoted then a formal decision has to be taken by the Congress working committee, the highest decision-making body which would be ratified by the party plenary.

“This has been the practice at least since 1978. Indiraji, Rajivji, P.V. Narsimha Rao, Sitaram Kesri and Soniaji became the party president through the CWC. Even the decision to make Rahul Gandhi the party vice-president was taken by the CWC which met in Jaipur in 2013,” they pointed out.

A section of the Congress wants the party plenary should be held in Uttar Pradesh, the home state of the Mrs Gandhi and Rahul, but others view that it should be held in Bengaluru. This is because the AICC sessions have always been held in states where the party is in power, they said.