At a four-hour-long meeting, the Congress top body re-affirmed its faith in Sonia Gandhi’s leadership despite the drubbing the party suffered in the five-state Assembly elections
File image of Sonia Gandhi with former president of the Congress, Sitaram Kesri. His was one of the most controversial exits from the party. AFP
They lost the recently-held five-state Assembly elections — suffering a heavy loss in Uttar Pradesh, managing to win only two seats in the 403-member Assembly — but it’s status quo for the Congress.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s top decision-making body, has reposed its faith in Sonia Gandhi and it was announced that she would continue as the president till at least August-September, when elections are scheduled to take place.
We take a look at what happened on Sunday’s critical meet and also look back at how the party has performed under the Gandhis vis-a-vis a non-Gandhi chief.
Sunday’s meet
Facing a drubbing in the Assembly elections — Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa — the Congress called for a meet of its top decision making body on Sunday.
After a four-hour-long intense meet, it was then announced that Sonia Gandhi would continue as the party president, as the leaders had reaffirmed their faith in her leadership.
News agency ANI reported that a detailed discussion was held about the state elections at the CWC meeting.
“She continues to be the president of the party. Detailed discussion was held about the five states elections. We discussed how to take things forward and how we prepare for the forthcoming elections,” said All India Congress Committee Goa in-charge Dinesh Gundu Rao.
The party will also hold a Chintan Shivir immediately after the Budget Session of Parliament.
According to a PTI report, Sonia Gandhi listened to all leaders at the CWC meet and said she is willing to make required changes to strengthen the party.
The news agency also reported that the chorus for making Rahul Gandhi Congress president again grew louder, as several leaders and workers voiced support for him to take on the mantle of party chief.
One can’t forget that Rahul Gandhi had stepped down as the party president in 2019 after the Congress’ poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
He had then said that as the Congress party chief, he was responsible for the loss of the 2019 election. “Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress President,” he added.
It was then that Sonia had taken up the mantle of the party president again and said she would continue till elections were held for the new party president.
Non-Gandhi chief
With Sonia retaining the president’s post, it has been 24 years that a Gandhi has been the top boss of the party.
Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the party in 1998 and served as chief of the party till 2017. It was then that the mantle was passed on to her son, Rahul Gandhi, and he led the party till 2019.
At the time, Sonia had said it was time for her to retire, though the party clarified that she had retired from the party chief’s role and not from politics.
However, under Rahul’s tenure, the party suffered multiple electoral losses and the final straw came in 2019 when the party lost the general elections.
The party, also known as the Grand Old Party, has a rich history and has had several presidents over the year, starting from Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee in 1885.
In 1991, P V Narsimha Rao became the Congress president following in the footsteps of Rajiv Gandhi. Interestingly, Rajiv had served as the party head from 1985, taking the mantle from his mother, Indira Gandhi.
After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Rao was, without question, the least unacceptable leader in the Congress. When the CWC had met on 23 May 1991, Rao was nominated not only Congress president but the Congress’ prime ministerial candidate too within minutes.
With taking over the reins of the Congress, he proved that there was hope beyond the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
Highlighting Rao’s contribution to the Congress, Sanjaya Baru noted in his book 1991: How PV Narasimha Rao Made History, “The Tirupati session strengthened PV and the party organisation and, in doing so, became an important step in the direction of once again making the INC (Indian National Congress) a truly national political party that was not identified with any one individual or family.”
In 1996, Sitaram Kesri was elected president and served from 1996-1998. Kesri can be credited of bringing Manmohan Singh, the liberalisation pioneer, to the Congress Working Committee.
His was one of the most controversial exits from the party. It was reported that Sitaram Kesri was reportedly locked in a room in the Congress headquarters on the Akbar Road in New Delhi to prevent him from creating obstacles in Sonia Gandhi entering the office of the Congress president.
With Sitaram Kesri locked, Sonia Gandhi entered the Congress headquarters triumphant with her supporters shouting slogans.
An infuriated Kesri left the meeting and as they say, the rest is history.
Sonia became Congress chief and in the enduring years also became the longest serving Congress president.
With inputs from agencies
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