CWC may postpone Congress chief poll by a month to manage fault lines

The Congress leadership has indicated further delay of a month in holding the party president election. Congress circles see it as the leadership's way of buying time to manage internal fault lines besides attempting to keep the entire focus of the party on the opening (September) phase of Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo yatra - when the Congress rank and file are likely to make further appeals to Gandhi to take over the party leadership - than allowing it to overlap with the poll.

Though the current schedule for election of the new party chief has to be completed by September 21, there are indications that the CWC meeting on Sunday may come out with a new schedule that would extend the completion of the presidential poll process to October end, after Diwali.

"It is for the CWC to make the final decision on the poll schedule," said a member of the Congress Central Election Authority, which had earlier proposed the September 21 deadline to complete the poll process. Though party managers informally attributed the delay to the 'pitru paksh' period from September 10-25, it is seen more as an excuse as 'Congress pundits' could not have belatedly woken up to the religious calendar.


While Rahul Gandhi is supposedly 'sticking to his reluctance' to return to the top post, many leaders still think more emotional appeal could either make him 'reluctantly accept' the post or 'pursue' Sonia Gandhi to carry on at the helm - just as it happened post-his 2019 resignation - as letting a non-Gandhi president, however 'safe', can have a fallout on current equations at the AICC setup.

Among the names floated as possible 'non-Gandhi presidential probables' were that of Ashok Gehlot, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mukul Wasnik and many more, even as change seekers are keeping the option of forcing a contest. Distancing from the buzz around him, Gehlot had said on Wednesday "efforts will be made till the last minute" to persuade Rahul Gandhi to return. According to the AICC, Sonia Gandhi and her children are on a personal trip abroad. The CWC had in 2021 postponed the organisational poll process due to Covid-19.