Sonia Gandhi was on Saturday appointed as interim president of the Congress at a crucial meeting of the party's working committee here, after Rahul Gandhi refused pleas by partymen to take back his resignation.
The announcement was made Saturday night after Congress Working Committee (CWC) accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation at its second meeting of the day.
The party's highest decision-making body banked on the experience and tested leadership of Sonia Gandhi, to lead it in what the CWC described as "trying times".
She returned as party president almost 20 months after making way for his son Rahul Gandhi in December 2017. Sonia has led the party for almost 19 years before she quit the post citing health reasons.
She returned to the helm of the party two months after the Congress suffered a massive drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls under Rahul Gandhi's leadership.
The CWC met twice during the day to find a successor to Rahul Gandhi and Sonia's name was decided after hours of consultations with top party leaders, including state unit chiefs, Congress Legislature Party leaders, party MPs, besides leaders of frontal organisations.
More From This Section
The Congress Working Committee on Saturday passed three resolutions on Rahul Gandhi's contribution as party president, Sonia Gandhi being appointed interim chief till the AICC elects a regular president, and on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The resolution on Jammu and Kashmir asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government to assuage concerns of people in a transparent manner.
"The CWC considered the views of PCC Presidents, CLP Leaders, AICC Secretaries and Members of Parliament. The CWC unanimously resolved that Shri Rahul Gandhi should continue as Congress President, as desired by all who were consulted today, and requested him to accept this decision. However, Shri Rahul Gandhi declined to withdraw his resignation.
"Consequently, the CWC unanimously resolved to request Smt. Sonia Gandhi to take over as Interim President pending the election of a regular President by the AICC," said the CWC resolution which was read out by party leaders K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala later.
Lauding Rahul Gandhi's contribution, the CWC also said in another resolution that "he came to be seen as a bulwark against the forces of hate, prejudice, bigotry, intolerance and divisiveness."
Asked how their names were in the sub-groups for consultations, she said, "That's obviously a mistake, because we cannot be in that."