Cong asks Sonia to lead party till new chief found

New Delhi: Facing severe crisis in states where it is in power following the leadership vacuum after Rahul Gandhi’s resignation as president, the Congress Party is once again looking at former president Sonia Gandhi to bail it out.

Sources said that a group of senior leaders approached Mrs Gandhi recently and asked her to take over as the party’s interim chief till a new party chief is found. The veteran leader has till now remained non-committal.

Mrs Gandhi, 72, was Congress president for 19 years, a period which covered 10 years of UPA rule, before she handed charge to her son in 2017.

She had slashed her official duties due to ill health and there was even speculation if she would contest the Rae Bareli seat.

After the Lok Sabha results, when she was approached the first time to take over the party, she had said it would not be possible for her to take on the top job even temporarily.

However, the nearly 45-day impasse after her son’s resignation, and the failure to arrive at any consensus candidate forced the senior leadership to approach her again.

The Congress’ desperation has grown as it fights crises in state after state, beginning with Karnataka and the near collapse of the party in Goa.

Sources claimed that chief ministers of Congress-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are worried that after Karnataka efforts would be made to destabilise their governments. The Congress has a razor thin majority in MP.

Sources added that MP CM Kamal Nath is in touch with all his MLAs on a personal basis. In Bhopal, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday that the party needs to reinvent itself and a new Congress president should be found at the earliest.  

Mr Scindia and Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora were among those who quit their posts in the party recently, owning responsibility for the party’s defeat.