Mallikarjun Kharge and Sushil Kumar Shinde (R)

NEW DELHI: The formal stepping down of Rahul Gandhi as Congress president will create a rare situation where the party will go for a non-Gandhi as the chief, the last being election of PV Narasimha Rao and then of Sitaram Kesari after Rajiv Gandhi. Senior Congress leaders started holding meetings on Wednesday to decide the future course.

Veteran Mallikarjun Kharge is seen as a strong possibility to take over the reins of Congress from Rahul. A Dalit and party loyalist, Kharge was the Congress leader in last Lok Sabha though he lost his poll from his stronghold of Gulbarga in Karnataka in 2019.

Another Dalit leader Sushil Kumar Shinde is also a close claimant, sources said.

Ever since it became clear that Rahul was adamant on stepping down, names of senior Congress leaders have done the rounds as possible replacements. Jyotiraditya Scindia is a name from the young generation.

According to procedure, the CWC will nominate an “interim president” and the president would be elected through nationwide voting which will take some time.

Within Congress, there is a strong voice that the next chief should go through the election process to have the legitimacy required to command respect among the cadres.

A senior leader pointed out that even Sonia Gandhi fought an election against a party veteran during a difficult phase in Congress history to emerge as undisputed leader. She even faced a rebellion and oversaw a split.

