india

Updated: Jun 21, 2019 00:20 IST

Nearly a month after Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced his intention to resign from party leadership at a Congress Working Committee meeting, which was rejected by the party through a formal resolution , Gandhi indicated on Thursday that he is firm on his decision and said that it is for the party to pick his replacement.

On Thursday, after President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to a joint session of Parliament, reporters asked Gandhi who may replace him as party chief. “I am not the one to decide,’’ he replied.

Gandhi declared he would quit after the electoral debacle faced by the party in the Lok Sabha polls. But the party’s senior leadership as well as state units had appealed to him to stay on.

Over the past month, since the election results, Gandhi has drastically reduced his political engagements with party leaders. He has only met senior leader AK Antony and general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal on a regular basis, and has repeatedly conveyed to interlocutors that there will be no going back on his intent. One Congress leader who went to meet Rahul Gandhi on his birthday, on June 19, tried to raise the issue of his resignation. Gandhi, according to him, said: “That is non-negotiable.’’

While there is no official word on the choice for the next Congress president, there is intense speculation in the party about who could take charge at a time when the party is going through one of its most serious political crises in recent history.

Gandhi’s formal elevation as president in December 2017 had marked a generational transition as he took over the reins from his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who had served as the party president for over two decades. It is not clear whether leadership will revert to a member of the “old guard”, as the senior leaders are called, or whether Gandhi’s replacement would be a younger leader from the same generation as him.

While Gandhi has suggested he will not be a part of the selection process, party leaders told HT that without Gandhi’s stamp of approval, the selected candidate would find it very difficult to overcome the friction within the party.

The new leader will have to strengthen the organisation, take on the formidable election machine of the Bharatiya Janata Party, lead the battle against PM Narendra Modi, stem the factional struggles that have gripped some state units, and begin preparing for state polls in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana at the end of this year and Delhi early next year.

Political analysts say the controversy around Gandhi’s resignation stems from the party brass and cadre’s loyalty to the family. “Loyalty is turning into a curse. Rahul Gandhi was sincere and determined about resigning and owning up responsibility for the 2019 poll debacle. But it has turned out to be a case of who will bell the cat... The CWC and the entire Congress organisation kept waiting for a signal from Gandhis that has not come,” said Rasheed Kidwai, author of 24 Akbar Road.

“Rahul now has the task of enforcing that his resignation is accepted within the one month deadline as well as ensure that no proxy nominee is put,” he added.