The Congress Working Committee on Monday called for party vice president Rahul Gandhi to be elevated as the Congress president. The members called in unison for the Gandhi scion to head the Grand Old Party which is facing a crisis since its worst showing in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Rahul was appointed party vice-president in January 2013 at Congress’s brainstorming session in Jaipur.
The talk about his elevation has been going on for quite some time now.
Sources said the ball was set rolling by senior Congress leader A K Antony, who first spoke about the need for Rahul Gandhi to take over the party leadership. Antony’s suggestion received the backing of all other CWC members attending the meeting, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, sources said.
Meanwhile, Rahul during the meeting made a scathing attack on the Modi government, saying democracy is going through “one of its darkest hours” with the ruling dispensation “obsessed with power and seeking to silence” all those who disagree.
Presiding over the meeting of the Congress Working Committee in the absence of party chief Sonia Gandhi, the party Vice President charged that, “hiding behind the cloak of national security, civil society is being intimidated for asking questions.”
Alluding to the one-day ban on Hindi channel NDTV India, Gandhi charged, “TV channels are being punished and asked to shut down. The opposition is being arrested for holding the government to account”.
