E-Paper
99.9% Congress members want Rahul Gandhi as President: Randeep Surjewala
Surjewala said that the electoral college of the Congress, All India Congress Committee (AICC) members and Congress workers and members would be involved in the procedure.
Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said on Friday that the party would soon start the procedure to elect a new president and that 99.9% of the party members including hom wanted Rahul Gandhi at the helm.
He said that the electoral college of the Congress, All India Congress Committee (AICC) members and Congress workers and members would be involved in the procedure.
“Party will soon start the procedure to elect a new party president. Electoral college of Congress, AICC members, Congress workers & members will choose who’s best suited. 99.9% of people including me want Rahul Gandhi to be elected as party president,” he said.
The grand old party will be electing its new President ahead of the crucial polls of West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu. The party’s recent poor performances in the state assembly elections of Bihar and Maharashtra have turned several of its eminent leaders into dissenters.
Current party president Sonia Gandhi has called for a strategy meet on Saturday and some of these dissenters are expected to be present. The group includes eminent names like the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor.
The party has even sought advice from block- and district-level leaders for suitable candidates for the top posts in states. The move is mainly aimed at checking infighting in states and uniting warring factions, a Congress functionary who did not wish to be named said.
The youth wing of the Congress have scrapped the internal polling system that was started by former President and current favourite to take over the party presidency Rahul Gandhi in 2008. The Youth Congress devised a new format that is based on membership enrolment to elect its state unit chiefs.
This system was adopted in the Himachal Pradesh selection and will be used for the selection process in Gujarat, Telangana and Mumbai. However, the selection in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh will follow the old procedure.
Congress had a dismal showing in the recently contested Bihar Assembly Elections, winning only 19 seats after contesting for 70.
