New Delhi: The Congress is gearing up for organisational elections. But the exercise is not for electing a full-time president of the party. It is for electing 12 members of the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
The party has not decided on when to hold organisational polls in view of coronavirus. However, the party is considering the idea of holding internal polls by convening a plenary session in coming January-February. If the elections are not held in these two months, then the electoral process for half a dozen states will begin in April-May 2020.
Congress is hopeful of a come-back in poll-bound states such as Kerala, Assam and Pudduchery. It is expecting its ally DMK’s return in Tamil Nadu. Moreover, elections are to be held in Jammu and Kashmir, and West Bengal too.
The Congress’ strategy is that a president should be appointed with the consent of interim party boss Sonia Gandhi ahead of these polls. One line of thinking in the party is that a proposal to appoint Rahul Gandhi should be unanimously approved and then he should get CWC members elected. If he is unwilling to be party boss, then anyone else proposed by him should be made chief of Congress. He could continue to run the party like he is doing now.
The CWC consists of 25 members, including the party president, of whom 12 are nominated and elections can be held for the remaining 12. There are indications that Rahul Gandhi will take over the top post.
After that, he will offer 22 leaders, who wrote a letter of dissent to Sonia Gandhi over a month ago, to contest election for CWC. He will then nominate 12 of the leaders close to him, also indicating who are the other 12 ones of the same group who will fight elections to CWC.
This has happened earlier too in the Congress party.