NEW DELHI: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Saturday picked Sonia Gandhi as the interim party chief, months after Rahul Gandhi vacated the post in May this year following the Congress's poor performance in the Lok Sabha election.

Sonia Gandhi, also the UPA chairperson, held the post for 19 years until her son Rahul took over the reins in 2017.

"CWC unanimously urged Rahul to continue as Congress president and requested him to accept the decision. However, Rahul Gandhi declined to withdraw his resignation. The CWC then unanimously resolved to request Sonia Gandhi to take over as interim president until the election for regular chief is held. Smt Sonia Gandhi has accepted this decision," the Congress said at a press conference after the day-long CWC meet.

Earlier, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi had recused themselves from the consultation process saying they cannot be part of it as they have been Congress presidents in the past and would not like the opinion of the party leaders to be influenced in any manner.

The decision was announced shortly after Rahul Gandhi told reporters that the party halted its deliberations on the Congress chief issue due to the present situation in Jammu and Kashmir after the Centre's move on Article 370 .

Rahul said that some reports have come in from Jammu and Kashmir about violence there and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi must assuage concerns over the matter in a "transparent" manner.



In Video: Sonia Gandhi elected as the new interim chief of Congress