Rahul Gandhi on leave, Congress stays on course with its plan to make him succeed Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: In spite of embarrassment caused by Rahul Gandhi’s sudden sabbatical, the Congress leadership stays on course with its plan to make him succeed Sonia Gandhi as the party president soon.

Gandhi’s elevation as Congress president is just a matter of months — as ET first reported on January 15 that it would happen earliest by March-April and latest by August-September. Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, a self-proclaimed ‘Priyanka fan’ caused flutter on TV news channels by recycling eight-year-old photos of Rahul holidaying in Uttarakhand as “the latest from the sabbatical spot”.

ET had last Tuesday reported that influential senior leaders are now pushing to convert the scheduled special AICC session in April into a three-day mega plenary session to crown Gandhi as party president. By Wednesday evening TV channels started reporting the same with Shimla being a possible venue for the coronation session.

All senior Congress leaders have conveyed to Rahul that after taking over as president, he should lead with a new team, preferably of young generation.