The schedule for the Congress president election will be known on August 28 with Congress president Sonia Gandhi convening a digital meeting of the party's Working Committee to approve the timeline for the poll, amid indications that senior leader Ashok Gehlot is emerging as the front-runner backed by the Gandhi family.
Sonia, who has flown to London for medical check-ups but will chair the digital meeting, is reported to have appealed to Gehlot to lead the party at a time former president Rahul Gandhi has refused to assume the leadership. Gehlot has expressed his reluctance earlier and has been urging Rahul to return as party chief.
If Gehlot emerges as the official camp’s candidate, it is not sure whether he will be elected unanimously as the G-23 leaders or change-seekers led by Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma are yet to reveal their cards on whether they will force a contest. The resignations of Azad and Anand from posts in state panels assigned to them by Sonia indicate that they may not surrender without a fight.
In case the G-23 forces a contest, Azad or Sharma may not don the battle attire but leave it to younger leaders like Shashi Tharoor or Manish Tewari to mount a challenge. There are around 9,000 delegates from states who are eligible to vote in the Congress presidential election.
The announcement of the meeting of the Congress Working Committee on August 28 comes a day after Gehlot met Sonia. Rahul, who has made it clear that he does not see any reason to change his views on a non-Gandhi becoming party president, and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who are accompanying their mother Sonia to London, will also attend the CWC meeting digitally.
With Rahul remaining adamant on his stand, Congress leaders had appealed to Sonia to continue in the post till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but she too has refused to continue in the post.
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Gehlot was scheduled to meet Rahul on Wednesday but this meeting did not happen, as the latter left for London with Sonia.
When asked about consensus emerging about his name as party chief, Gehlot told reporters at Delhi airport, "this has been doing the rounds in the media for a long time. You keep talking about it. Nobody knows what is going to be decided...Has anybody briefed you at the AICC? No one has done that. The media keeps on speculating. Neither I nor you can comment when there is no decision officially. Media is free.”
Interestingly, Gehlot, who urged Rahul to take over as president in the past two days, did not specifically mention the former Congress president when he was asked whether a consensus had been formed around him.
Sources said the presidential election timeline may overshoot the announced schedule, with the central election authority indicating that they would need at least 24-25 days after notification to finish the election process if there is a contest. A senior leader indicated that the poll process may conclude by the first week of October only.
Last October, Congress announced that it will hold the presidential election between August 21 and September 20. The party is likely to get the new president in the midst of its ambitious ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ starting September 7 in which Rahul Gandhi will have a major role.
Sonia will return to India after meeting her ailing mother in Italy after medical check-ups while Rahul will return to attend the September 4 rally in Delhi against price rise. On September 5, Rahul will go to Gujarat and interact with booth-level workers in Ahmedabad.