Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Supriya Shrinate, Pawan Khera and others.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will have to take decisions on two issues at the earliest – on taking up Leader of Opposition post and choosing between Raebareli and Wayanad.
While Congress unanimously wants him to take up the Leader of Opposition’s chair, there are contrasting views in the party over which seat he should retain and vacate, with a section strongly arguing that he should retain Raebareli as the main battle ground is the Hindi heartland.
So far, Rahul has kept himself away from Parliamentary positions though he had remained Congress’ face in the past ten years in Lok Sabha. The change this time from 2014 and 2019 would be that Congress would get the post of LoP as it has more members than the threshold needed to assign the post.
In 2014 and 2019, Congress had less than 54 MPs – the requirement to allot the post of LoP to a party. The Modi government refused to relax the rules on both occasions but this time with 99 seats, Congress would automatically get the post.
With Congress on the upswing, its leaders want Rahul to move from his “de-facto leader” position to take up the leadership officially. In 2014, Congress had chosen its current president Mallikarjun Kharge as the Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha while in 2019, it was Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
The argument from those who are vocal about Rahul taking up the post of LoP is that he has been the face of the fight against Narendra Modi inside and outside Parliament, though Congress was cautious this time not to make it a personality contest.
Several Opposition leaders like Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut and VCK’s Thol Thirumavalavan have publicly said that Rahul should assume the post of LoP.
With Chowdhury losing the contest in Baharampore, sources said other possible contenders for the post if Rahul decides not to take up post are outgoing Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and senior MP Manish Tewari.
Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal is also a prominent contender, but with Kharge holding the post in Rajya Sabha and both belonging to south India may act as a stumbling block. Several leaders are of the opinion that Rahul’s appointment would act as a booster in the north.
Coupled with this is the discussion on which seat Rahul should vacate as he has won from both Wayanad and Raebareli. On June 4, Rahul said he will take a decision after discussing with party colleagues, and if left to him, he would have chosen both.
Rahul was said to be reluctant to fight from the second seat (Raebareli) as he felt that it was not proper to leave Wayanad, which had helped him remain in Lok Sabha after his defeat in Amethi last time. However, political calculations forced him to contest from Gandhi family borough Raebareli, a seat vacated by his mother Sonia Gandhi this time.
Speculation is also rife about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra contesting the seat that Rahul will vacate.
The reasoning given by leaders who want Rahul to retain Raebareli is that his presence in a north Indian seat is important for the party’s resurgence. Several of them had attributed Rahul’s decision to fight from Wayanad along with Amethi in 2019 to be behind a Congress rout in the north.
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