Want Rahul Gandhi to be party chief at earliest: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Congress MP Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia talks to the media at Parliament house in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Source: PTI Photo)

The Congress on Wednesday took an official position on the elevation of Rahul Gandhi as party president, saying it hopes he would assume the mantle “at the earliest”. Though individual leaders have been demanding his elevation, this is the first time a party spokesperson has spelt it out at an AICC briefing.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to give any opinion. This decision will be taken by the party, party president and Rahul Gandhi himself. I don’t think on this issue, it is appropriate for any party worker or leader to say when it will happen or how it will happen. We, of course, are intent on Rahul assuming the mantle at the earliest. But when it will happen and how it will happen, we leave it to the party, the president and Rahul,” said Congress spokesperson Jyotiraditya Scindia. He was reacting to former union minister Jairam Ramesh’s remarks made earlier in the day that Rahul was expected to become the party president this year.

Speaking to PTI in Hyderabad, Ramesh said: “I expect that it would be in 2015. We are expecting that he will take over (as party president), and we are expecting that he will take over in 2015.”

“Every organisation must undergo a process of renewal every 20 years…every 25 years and the Congress must project younger faces from a broader spectrum of society,” he told PTI.

A debate has been raging in the party for some time over Rahul’s elevation as the party president. Individual leaders ranging from Digvijaya Singh and Kamal Nath have openly said that Sonia Gandhi should slip into the role of a mentor and make way for Rahul. On the other hand, many top leaders including former union ministers M Veerappa Moily, Ashwani Kumar and K V Thomas have said Sonia should not retire at this time.

Source:: Indian Express