Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has once again revived the call for making Congress scion Rahul Gandhi working president of the Congress party. Digvijay Singh said, the young leader (Rahul Gandhi) should now play a bigger role. “Rahul has to come in the mainstream. Right now he is looking only after Youth Congress and the student wing of the party. I feel now he has to look after us all,” Singh’s comments come in the wake of speculation that Rahul could be appointed on November 19, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's birthday.
Rahul Gandhi , significantly, is the one who is taking all the crucial decisions in poll bound Uttar Pradesh- right from ticket distribution to planning Congress strategy and extensively touring the state himself.
Singh, the two time former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, is considered to be close to Rahul. As the AICC general secretary in-charge of UP, Singh is also working actively with Rahul Gandhi to revive the party in the state.
Singh said,“Rahul has to come in the mainstream. Right now he is looking only after Youth Congress and the student wing of the party. I feel now he has to look after us all.”
Asked whether this talk of Gandhi being elevated as Working President was merely a rumour or there were some discussions in the Congress on it, party spokesperson Rashid Alvi had told reporters a few days back “The internal matters of the party are not discussed with media. If any decision is taken, you will come to know.”
A senior party leader speaking on condition of anonymity said that there is “no confusion that Rahul Gandhi is the next leader of the Congress but it is for him to decide when to join mainstream”.
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The speculation about Rahul Gandhi gained momentum after the surgery of Congress President Sonia Gandhi in August. Rahul was also part of the four-member committee appointed by Sonia Gandhi to look after Congress affairs during her treatment in the US.
As Sonia Gandhi was said to be not as active as before due to her surgery, there was demand from Congress insiders that Rahul be instated Working President. “Such a move just before the Assembly elections in several states could reap rich dividends for us,” said another leader.