Congress vice- president Rahul Gandhi’s elevation to the party president’s post is set to be postponed to next year, with the Congress Working Committee, the party’s apex decision-making body, meeting here on November 7 to discuss the question of seeking another year from the Election Commission to complete the organisational elections.
Alongside, sources in the Congress said the party’s response to current political issues would be discussed, and a strategy formulated ahead of the winter session of Parliament slated to commence on November 16.
The political issues will include surgical strikes, the killing of eight Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists in an ‘encounter’ in Madhya Pradesh, the Modi government bringing up the issue of a uniform civil code, and the attacks on the media.
The leaders in the party said the Congress appeared to have taken a beating on the first three issues: Mr. Gandhi’s choice of words in accusing the government of khoon ki dalali in using the surgical strikes for political gains had not gone down well; on the killing of the SIMI activists, the party appeared divided, with senior leaders Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia taking different positions; and similarly, the party’s stance on the uniform civil code has not been very clear.
The CWC meeting is taking place at a time when, following Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s ill health, the subject of Mr. Gandhi’s elevation had resurfaced. She took ill suddenly during a roadshow in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency of Varanasi on August 2, and had to be hospitalised afterwards.
