Cong president polls: Will Rahul Gandhi be back in Delhi as deadline to file papers nears?
Names of Shashi Tharoor and Ashok Gehlot have emerged as possible candidates for Congress president.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is unlikely to contest the election to the top post in the grand old party’s party's presidential polls. According to party sources cited by news agency ANI, the Congress MP, who is leading the party’s much-publicised ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, will not return to the national capital by the time it is the last date for filing nomination for the contest – September 30.
The source-based news comes at a time when the ‘Rahul Gandhi for president’ chorus grows across the party's state units. At least nine state Congress units - Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Jammu and Kashmir - have so far passed resolutions urging the Wayanad MP to return as the party chief – a post he left following the 2019 Lok Sabha debacle.
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Earlier, Gandhi had said, “Whether I become president of Congress or not will become clear when the elections take place. But, I have clearly decided what I will do and there is no confusion in my mind.”
Meanwhile, names of Shashi Tharoor and Ashok Gehlot have emerged as possible candidates for Congress president. However, Gehlot's candidature is yet to be confirmed with reports suggesting that he would continue in his efforts to persuade Gandhi to take back the mantle.
Currently, the post has been held by Rahul’s mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on an ‘interim’ basis.
Also read: As Cong prez polls near, Sonia Gandhi summons top party leader to Delhi: Report
The Wayanad MP is traversing through Kerala as part of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra' and will continue to walk across the southern state for another 12 days. The 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir is scheduled to be completed in 150 days and cover as many as 12 states. The Yatra will enter Karnataka by the end of this month.
