Congress leader Milind Deora, known to be close to Rahul Gandhi, said the latter’s elevation as Congress President was “imminent now”, without however, giving a timeline. Another Congress leader, Sachin Pilot, indicated the change could come as soon as post Diwali.
In a free wheeling conversation with The Hindu, Mr Deora said, “Everyone across the party wants that the buck should stop with him.”
In a separate interview to the new agency, PTI, Sachin Pilot said, “Organisational elections of the Congress are underway and the new President could take over shortly after Diwali. It has been something that has been in the pipeline for a long time.”
For close to three years now, Mr. Gandhi’s taking over has been the subject of constant speculation. While there had been some resistance from the party’s old guard, repeated electoral setbacks in Assembly elections after the Congress’ 2014 Lok Sabha debacle — pitched as a battle between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi — made it difficult for the Congress to elevate Mr. Gandhi.
The former MP from south Mumbai, however, said Team Rahul will be a healthy mix of experience and age and the Congress Vice-President understands “the importance of taking everyone along.”
Talking about the Gujarat elections where Mr. Gandhi kick-started the Congress’ campaign with his three-day Navsarjan tour last Monday, Mr. Deora said, “For us as a party, we have to keep fighting and every election has it’s own dynamics.”
Gujarat challenge
“I see it as a difficult and a tough challenge. Both Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah are Gujaratis and will be the face of the elections for the BJP,” he said.
The former Lok Sabha member, who represented South Mumbai, asserted that Mr. Gandhi is “lending his support to the State leadership in Assembly polls.”
“Rahul Gandhi is not the face in any State election. He campaigned in Punjab elections but wasn’t the face there. Captain Amarinder Singh was,” said Mr. Deora.
The demands for Mr. Gandhi’s elevation have grown after many in the Congress called the U.S. trip a success and argued “this is the best time for him [Mr. Gandhi] to take charge.”
Sharing details of the U.S. trip, Mr. Deora, who was involved at the planning stage, said, “Berkeley was really the centre of his U.S. visit as it is the epicentre of liberal and progressive politics. Everything else like meeting tech giants in the Silicon Valley, business leader and policy-makers was worked around Berkeley.”
Mr. Deora claimed business leaders and policy-makers constantly “`took comfort” in knowing from the Congress delegation (which included Sam Pitroda) that the government and the opposition come together on important economic issues in spite of ideological differences. “We told them that we have serious differences but there is also continuity in policy making,” said Mr. Deora.
The policies that were cited as examples of continuity between the UPA and NDA governments included the Goods and Services Tax and Aadhaar, based on the UPA’s unique identification system.
