Sonia Gandhi was appointed as interim Congress president, returning at the helm after almost 20 months following the resignation of Rahul Gandhi from the post on 25 May. The Congress Working Committee made a last ditch effort to persuade Rahul Gandhi to continue as the party president, and proposed that if Rahul still doesn’t relent, Sonia Gandhi should be the interim president and oversee elections for the top post. However, Rahul stuck on his stand and refused to withdraw his resignation.
“The CWC unanimously resolved to request Sonia Gandhi to take over as interim president pending the election of regular president by the All India Congress Committee (AICC)," K C Venugopal, Congress' general secretary in charge of organisation, told reporters after the marathon meeting.
During the wider consultation process involving state PCC chiefs, Congress legislature party leaders, AICC secretaries and party MPs, only a few suggested other names while a majority of them said the party will face desertions if Rahul does not remain the leader. Some even told Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to prevail upon Rahul to reconsider his May 25 resignation, the sources said.
Earlier in the day, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul had recused themselves from the consultation process saying that they cannot be part of it as they have been Congress presidents in the past and would not like the opinion of the party leaders to be influenced in any manner. Sonia Gandhi, who has been the longest-serving party president in her earlier stint, will take over the party's responsibility at a time when it is fresh from its second-worst defeat in the national elections and ahead of key state polls later this year.
