Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni today said that all leaders of Indian National Congress unanimously want Rahul Gandhi to become party president.
Soni's remarks came just after the Congress Working Committee meeting, in Delhi where Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said she is a full-time, hands-on party president and there is no need for leaders to speak to her through the media.
"Everybody agreed unanimously, whether Rahul Gandhi will become the party president or not, is up to him. All leaders of Indian National Congress unanimously want Rahul Gandhi to become party president", Soni said after the meeting.
"The process for election will begin in September 2022", the senior Congress leader added.
Sonia Gandhi's statements came days after Kapil Sibal, one of the leaders of the group of 23 who had written to Sonia Gandhi for organisational overhaul last year, demanded that an immediate meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) be convened and wondered who in the party was taking decisions in the absence of a full-time president.
In her opening remarks at the CWC meeting, Gandhi asserted that every member of the party wants a revival of the Congress, but that requires unity and keeping the party's interests paramount.
Recalling that the Congress had finalised a roadmap for electing a regular Congress chief by June 30 but that deadline was extended indefinitely due to Covid second wave, Sonia Gandhi said that today was the occasion for bringing clarity once and for all on the issue of the organisational polls.
A schedule for full-fledged organizational elections had been put before the CWC members, she said.
"I am, if you will allow me to say so, a full-time and hands-on Congress president," Gandhi said, which is seen by many as a response to Sibal's comments last month.
Sonia Gandhi, former chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress chief ministers Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh and Charanjit Channi of Punjab attended the meeting.
Senior leaders and G23 leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma were among those present at the meeting at the All India Congress Committee headquarters here.
