Hours after Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor said that the Congress should expedite the process of finding a full-term president, fellow party leader and Spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi suggested that a change might occur sooner than you'd think.
Sonia Gandhi completes one year as the Interim Chief of the party on August 10. Speaking at an online briefing Singhvi said that her tenure was coming to an end. But while she will complete a year, it does not mean the seat will automatically fall vacant as her tenure ends.
"There's proper procedure which CWC carries out. It'll be done in near future and you'll have a result. It's written in Congress Constitution, we're bound to do it and it's being done," Singhvi clarified.
"Sonia Gandhi is the president, she will continue till such time as a proper procedure is implemented and it will be implemented in the not too distant future," he told reporters.
Earlier in the day Tharoor had said that the party needs to be "clear about our leadership going forward". "I welcomed Sonia ji's appointment as interim president last year, but I do believe it's unfair to her to expect her to carry this burden indefinitely," he told PTI in an interview.
He opined that the Congress needed to shake of the public perception that it was "adrift and rudderless". This, he added, was the reason why the party needed a full-term president, selected through a participatory and democratic process. Speaking about the possibility of Rahul Gandhi returning to his post at the helm of the party Tharoor said that should he choose to, this would be a simple process.
"If Rahul Gandhi is ready to resume the leadership, all he has to do is to withdraw his resignation. He was elected to serve till December 2022 and can just pick up the reins again," he had said.
(With inputs from agencies)
