Congress unit in Gujarat backs Rahul Gandhi for post of party president

Gujarat’s Congress unit has passed a resolution to make Rahul Gandhi as party’s new president. Earlier, the party units of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh had also backed Gandhi for the post of Congress President.

The Gujarat Congress unanimously demanded that Rahul Gandhi should become the party’s new president in the state executive meeting at the state party headquarters on Sunday.

The party also passed a resolution and gave all powers for the formation of the state party organization to the party’s national president, Sonia Gandhi.

With the notification of the Congress presidential polls just days away, Gandhi family loyalists and state units have stepped up efforts to mount pressure on Rahul Gandhi to take the party's reins amid indications that he was unlikely to change his earlier stance of not being AICC chief.

The Congress units in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat, the only three states where the party is in government on its own, have passed resolutions that Gandhi be made the party's president.

Also Read | Rajasthan Congress passes resolution to appoint Rahul Gandhi as party president

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram favoured a consensus for the post of the AICC chief and asserted that Rahul Gandhi would always have a "pre-eminent place" in the party irrespective of whether he was president as he was the "acknowledged leader" of the rank and file.

The Rajya Sabha MP said if Rahul Gandhi was elected Congress president, he would be both the leader and president, but if he is not, he would remain the acknowledged leader of the party and there would be another person holding the office of the president.