 "Rahul Gandhi")
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s birthday on June 19 is the latest date floated by his supporters for his elevation as party president. Gandhi will turn 46 this year.
There are rumours that a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) would be called on June 15, followed by an All India Congress Committee (AICC) meeting where the new president would be elected. The “elevate Rahul Gandhi campaign” has gained ground on the back of efforts by his supporters, who say his appointment will be the perfect birthday gift.
The Congress has been agog with Gandhi’s supporters insisting he be elevated. Party leader Jairam Ramesh said the Congress vice-president has “a lot of ideas on organisational restructuring and I hope he gets into the position very soon. He is de facto (in reality) party president, but should become de jure (by law).”
Digvijaya Singh had already said he saw nothing hampering Gandhi’s elevation. Prashant Kishor, the election strategist roped in by the party to revive its fortunes in Uttar Pradesh, had suggested that Gandhi be the party’s chief ministerial face in the state, which goes to polls next year.
Ramesh reacted to the reports at an AICC briefing, saying, "I have no idea what Prashant Kishor has said or he is attributed to have said. All I can sayis Rahul Gandhi is a Member of Parliament from Amethi. Rahul Gandhi is vice-president of the Congress party and we all expect Rahul Gandhi to become president of the Congress party in 2016. Rahul Gandhi obviously cannot be chief minister of 29 states. We all hope and expect that he will be Congress president in 2016."
