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Updated: Jul 18, 2019 14:54 IST

Former Union Home Minister and senior Congressman Sushilkumar Shinde remained tight-lipped on the question of his possible anointment as Congress president following the resignation of Rahul Gandhi.

“I do not want to give any comment on this issue,” Shinde said in a cryptic response on Wednesday after returning from United Kingdom on Tuesday.

He declined to respond to any of the questions put to him during a telephonic interview on Wednesday from Mumbai.

When asked whether he was interested in taking up the Congress presidentship, he said, “No comment”.

The 77-year-old leader also remained tight lipped when asked whether the matter was discussed with him by higher-ups in the party.

The former Union Minister and Maharashtra chief minister’s name emerged after Rahul Gandhi posted an open letter on his decision to resign taking responsibility for the Congress’s national election defeat.

If Shinde is nominated to the Congress presidentship, he will be the first Maharashtrian to lead the Congress post-independence. In 1912, it was Dhule born Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar who had led the Congress. Bhushan Deshmukh former Director of the State Institute for Administrative Careers (SIAC) Mumbai is a government training institute for administrative exams said, “Sushilkumar Shinde has a historic opportunity to reclaim legacy of Ranade-Gokhale and ultimately Mahatma Gandhi from the state.” Congress sources said the names of Shinde and Mallikarjun Kharge emerged in a party meeting conducted after resignation of Rahul Gandhi.

The decision is likely to be made with the assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana in the reckoning.