Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should accept the position of party president, ANI reported.
“If Rahul Gandhi does not become the party [Congress] president, it will be a disappointment for the Congress workers across the country,” Gehlot said. “He should understand their sentiments.”
Gehlot’s remark came two days after reports claimed that Gandhi has refused to contest the election to elect the next Congress president. Incumbent Congress president Sonia Gandhi has also expressed her desire not to continue in the post citing health reasons.
Last year, the Congress party had announced that the election to pick a new Congress president would be held between August 21 and September 20.
On August 21, chairperson of the party’s Central Election Authority Madhusudan Mistry told PTI that it was up to the Congress Working Committee to approve the final date for the poll.
Addressing reporters, Gehlot on Tuesday said that around 250 members of the All India Congress Committee want Rahul Gandhi to take back the reins of the party. “When there is a one-sided opinion about him, then I feel he should accept,” he added, according to The Indian Express.
Gehlot also responded to the criticism that the Congress has not appointed a non-Gandhi party president since 1998 after Sitaram Kesri.
“It is not a question of Gandhi or non-Gandhi, it is organisation work,” he said. “He is not becoming the prime minister. In the last 32 years, no one from this [Gandhi] family has been the prime minister, nor a central minister, or a chief minister.”
The Rajasthan chief minister added that he was confident that the Congress would retain power in the state after the Assembly election next year, the Hindustan Times reported.
“We will win the next [Rajasthan] assembly elections, and then the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Gehlot said. “This time it is not an easy game for Modi.”
He added: “The way Nitish Kumar has given a blow to the BJP in Bihar and the Congress has cornered the central government through protests led by Rahul Gandhi on the issue of inflation and unemployment, the Modi government has shaken.”
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