India’s Congress party names Sonia Gandhi interim president

Opposition defies calls to break with dynasty after election defeat

India’s troubled opposition Congress party has appointed former leader Sonia Gandhi as its interim president, defying calls to break with the dynastic Gandhi family after a crushing election defeat.

The 134-year-old Congress party is one of the India’s most storied institutions, playing a key role in the campaign for independence from British rule and going on to lead the country for decades with various members of the Nehru-gandhi family at the helm.

But the party has struggled to respond to the rise of current prime

minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party, suffering two humiliating electoral defeats in 2014 and May this year. In the most recent election, Congress won 52 of 543 seats in parliament, compared with more than 300 for Mr Modi’s ruling alliance.

That loss prompted the resignation in July of president Rahul Gandhi, Ms Gandhi’s son, and sparked weeks of upheaval as the party searched for a new leader.

Central to that process was a debate over whether Congress could survive if it stuck to its tried-andtested dynastic model by choosing another member of the Gandhi family, or if it was time for new leadership.

But, with local elections coming up in three Indian states later this year, the party’s leadership committee announced late on Saturday night they had asked Ms Gandhi — who led the Congress party for almost two decades through 2017 — to return on an interim basis.

“Happy to see [Ms Gandhi] back in the saddle. It was the best decision in the current circumstances,” Amarinder Singh, the chief minister of Punjab who had previously called for fresh leadership, wrote on Twitter. “Her experience and understanding will help guide [Congress],” he continued.