Time for image makeover

Will Congress finally have a non-Gandhi president  after 22 years or the ‘parivarwaad’ will prevail as ever

Congress the oldest party in the country is going to elect its president  on October 17.  Sonia Gandhi became the president of the party after Sitaram kesri and continues to hold the post. Kesri was the last non Congress president. For the last 22 years the Congress had a Gandhi as the president. For a brief period from 2017 to 2019, Rahul Gandhi became the president but resigned along with many other post holders after the crushing defeat in 2019. Now that the process has been kick-started for the  election by party president Sonia Gandhi and endorsed by the CWC. The Nominations papers can be filed from September 24 till September 30 and the last date for withdrawal of nomination paper would be October 8, Voting would be held on October 17 and the result would be announced on October 19. The party’s decision to hold election comes after two of its senior leaders openly criticized the party’s high command for not listening to them, one has already left the party the other may be weighing options. After the departure of Ghulam Nabi Azad who was one of the disgruntled leaders of the group, the so-called G-23, and defiant Anand Sharma, the party high command must have thought about the damage control or at least put some semblance of democracy in the party. But what kind of contest it would be?

 Will someone have the courage enough to challenge the Gandhi trio and file a nomination paper would be interesting to watch. Ashok Gelout is being touted as front runner while Shashi Tharoor might throw in his hat. If Sonia Gandhi is replaced by Rahul Gandhi (which is most likely the case) elected unopposed the whole exercise would look sham. The coterie is already clamoring for his takeover.  Contrary to the popular belief Gandhis have not been the president of the party most of the time, JB Kripalani and not Nehru was congress president at the time of independence. He was president for brief period so was Indira Gandhi who held number of time but her total tenure was less than ten years. Sonia Gandhi has had the longest tenure as congress president. Patel, Jagjivan Ram, PV Narsimharao, Sitaram Kesari, and many others held the congress president post for a considerable period of  time. Should the party decide to choose a non-Gandhi president it would be a great image booster. It also would negate the PM’s ‘pariwarwaad’ rant and improve the ratings of the Gandhis.

Source: PTI