AZAD ASKS PRIYANKA TO HEAD CONGRESS
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi had a quiet one-to-one luncheon meeting with senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad early this week, ostensibly to press for the senior leaders accept her brother Rahul Gandhi as the party president to replace their mother and interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Azad, who has now gone to Jammu with the rebel leaders in the Group of 23 agitating for revamp of the Congress to attend a function of the Gandhi Global Foundation he heads, is understood to have told Priyanka many leaders in his camp are upset with Rahul as he has been taking decisions without consultation that are damaging the party in various states. Priyanka came away from the meeting with a surprise offer from Azad he could lobby for her with the senior leaders during the 3day Jammu sojourn if she is willing to take the party's mantle as the new Congress president. Azad told her frankly the party seniors in his Group of 23 will not accept anyone else imposed by Rahul as his nominee.
Azad reportedly pressed Priyanka for the way she is reviving the party in Uttar Pradesh as the in-charge of the state and going from place to place attending the farmers’ gathering to send out a message to the rural India the Congress stands by the farmers agitating for the repeal of the three con
tentious farm laws.
For Priyanka, the offer from Azad on behalf of the rebels is embarrassing as she becoming a rebels’ candidate will be unacceptable to Sonia
—Our Bureau
and Rahul, particularly when Sonia has told party leaders in the internal meetings that for her there is only one candidate for the post and that is Rahul Gandhi.