Agencies
New Delhi, Oct 13: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi Friday confirmed that her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be elevated to the presidency of the party soon.
“You have been asking this for so many years and it’s now happening,” she said at a function organized by a television channel to release former president Pranab Mukherjee’s autobiography, ‘The Coalition Years 1996-2012’.
According to reactions gathered from Congress leaders, the change of guard could be expected anytime after Diwali.
The Congress organisational polls are under way and several state units have already passed resolutions urging Rahul Gandhi to take over party reins. Delhi was the first to do so.
The process of electing the new party president is set to begin once the Central Election Authority (CEA) of the party, which supervises organisational elections, receives the list of delegates and resolutions from all the states.
The CEA members are expected to meet Sonia to apprise her of the completion of various phases of the organisational polls.
Once Sonia is apprised, the highest decision-making body of the party, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), will be called to finalise dates for the filing and withdrawal of nominations for the top post. According to party sources, the nomination process is likely to be completed by October 25 and the CWC was likely to meet before Diwali.
