‘Make Rahul Gandhi AICC president again’ chorus grows louder in Congress

New Delhi, Sep. 19 (PTI): The ‘Make Rahul Gandhi AICC president again’ chorus is growing louder in the Congress with half a dozen state units so far seeking his elevation to the top post, even as uncertainty and suspense persisted over whether he would take on the mantle.

After Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat units of the Congress passed resolutions that Gandhi should be made party chief, the party’s Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Bihar units also followed suit on Monday.

This comes days after the party said the Pradesh Congress Committee delegates would pass resolutions authorising the incoming Congress president to appoint state chiefs and AICC delegates.

Along with the resolution on appointing state chiefs and AICC delegates, the state units are, one after another, also passing resolutions seeking Gandhi’s elevation to the top post.

It started with Congress units in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states where the party is in government on its own. Also, the Gujarat Congress on Sunday demanded that Rahul Gandhi be made the party’s national president.

The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee on Monday adopted a unanimous resolution urging Rahul Gandhi to lead the party “for the victory of secular, democratic forces” in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Bihar Congress and Maharashtra Congress also passed such resolutions.

Similar resolutions were passed in 2017 before Rahul Gandhi was elevated as the Congress president. He, however, stepped down in 2019 after the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.

Amid hectic efforts and appeals to convince him again take charge as the party president, Gandhi said earlier this month that he had made his decision on whether he would take up the party presidency but did not divulge his plans.

He even asserted that he would give his reasons if he did not contest the upcoming election for the post.

Asked if he would become the Congress president, he had said, “Whether I become president or not, this will become very clear when the presidential elections of the Congress party take place.”

He, however, had asserted that he had “very clearly” decided what he was going to do. “There is no confusion in my mind at all.”

In case Rahul Gandhi does not contest, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was being seen as a front-runner, while senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is among the G-23 leaders, was also contemplating running for the post of party president.

Adding to the buzz over the possibility of his contesting Congress president polls, Tharoor on Monday endorsed a petition by a group of young party members seeking “constructive reforms” and met AICC chief Sonia Gandhi here.

The petition shared by Tharoor on Twitter sought reforms and a pledge by AICC president candidates to implement the Udaipur Declaration in its entirety if elected. The former Union minister said it had been signed by over 650 people so far.

“I welcome this petition that is being circulated by a group of young @INCIndia members, seeking constructive reforms in the Party. It has gathered over 650 signatures so far. I am happy to endorse it & to go beyond it,” Tharoor tweeted with screenshots of the petition.

Several senior Congress leaders have also emphasised that even if Gandhi did not become the party president, the Gandhi family would hold a position of pre-eminence in the party.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday favoured a consensus for the post of the AICC chief.