Will Congress hand over baton to Priyanka Gandhi, eluding Rahul Gandhi?

New Delhi, August 14: Congress Working Committee (CWC) to appoint Priyanka Gandhi as her successor to guard the party, says media reports. The change in leadership was discussed by Sonia Gandhi with some senior leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 8th August as they all met together for the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement.

However, P Shay, Priyanka’s personal assistant has denied the statement claiming it to be a fabricated story. He asserts that no such discussions were held. But according to media reports, a CWC member told that Sonia has clearly mentioned it and it was not anything casual. The CWC member also added that enthroning of Priyanka would bring a lot of merits.

As per media reports, Sonia has discussed the matter with a few selected ones among her party members, in putting up a credible show in the next Lok Sabha elections by allocating a young one to control and manage the party strategizing with the senior leaders. ‘Priyanka Gandhi as the next Congress President’ received strong support from the party members, says media reports.

Media reports say that demands for assisting Priyanka in some formal roles in the party had been raised earlier itself. But Priyanka had restricted herself. Now, the ultimate decision on the future President of INC would probably be declared by next one month.

Rahul Gandhi, Congress Vice President, was expected to be the next President. He couldn’t attend the CWC meeting as he was suffering from viral fever, says media reports.

A senior Congress MP and a former minister said that ‘Gandhi family’ is what that binds the party. When PV Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister and when Sitaram Kesari was the party president, despite they not being in the forefront, the party was always held high by the Gandhian family.

From 2014, as Narendra Modi -led BJP came into power with a big win in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had a bad time and their graph went down. Many among the party saw its failure due to the sharp divide between the thought process of Team Rahul and the Old Guard represented by likes of Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad and many others, says the senior congress MP.