Less than two years after she gave up the post, Sonia Gandhi was chosen to be president of the Congress on Saturday, albeit in an interim position, as the grand old party gropes for direction in the aftermath of a devastating electoral defeat that prompted her son and successor Rahul Gandhi to resign.
“Sonia Gandhi is the new Congress president,” party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest policy-making body, ended at around 11pm. The CWC finally accepted the resignation Rahul Gandhi submitted as president on May 25.
Sonia Gandhi, 72, who is also chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), was chosen interim president of the 134-year-old party after a last- ditch effort by the CWC to persuade Rahul Gandhi, 49, to continue failed.
Coming back to the old Dynasty Rule. “The CWC requested Rahul Gandhi to take back his resignation and remain as the Congress president. But he politely declined this request while maintaining that he respects the sentiments of people in the party… After this, the CWC unanimously decided that Sonia Gandhi should handle the post of the interim chief until a regular president is picked. She accepted this request,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.