Cong’s Udaipur plenary may pick new chief

Grappling with leadership issues at the helm after its rout in last year’s Lok Sabha polls, the Congress is likely to hold an AICC plenary in Udaipur, Rajasthan, in April’s first week.

Sources said the one-day plenary may address the need for a full-time president and organisational changes within the party.

The exact date would be decided at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee to be called soon, the sources said, adding it can be anytime after the end of the Budget Session, which will be on till April 3.

It may be recalled that Rahul Gandhi had resigned as Congress president, taking moral responsibility for the defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, after which the party remained headless for the next two months. After that, former party chief and former UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had taken over as interim president.

While a section claimed Mrs Gandhi would remain as interim president, another said Rahul Gandhi might make a comeback at the plenary.

However, Mr Gandhi has distanced himself from any such possibility. He also said the Congress should look beyond the Gandhi family for a president.

After Mr Gandhi’s resignation as party chief, an all-out war had erupted within the party between the old guard and the new guard, and Mrs Gandhi’s taking over as the interim chief was meant to be a peace-making exercise.

Recently, however, Mr Gandhi has begun an outreach to the nation’s youth through a series of rallies on economic issues and unemployment, the first of which was held in Jaipur on January 28.

Besides the issue of the president’s position, the plenary may also decide to make some “radical” changes in the organisational structure. The demand and need for an overall organisational restructuring comes amid the huge drubbing the party got in the Delhi Assembly elections, where its voteshare plunged to a mere four per cent.

■ AFTER RAHUL Gandhi’s resignation as party chief, an all-out war had erupted within the party between the old guard and the new guard, and Sonia was made interim chief