The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is unlikely to meet before July 22 as the political turmoil and the Karnataka trust vote has taken precedence, said a senior leader on Tuesday.
Though senior leaders who have been discussing about finding a consensus candidate for the next Congress president had informally set July 15 as a cut-off day by when the party would decide on the next president, all plans are now on hold.
The CWC meeting could now be delayed until the current Parliament session gets over on July 26. No final decision, however, has been taken on the date.
So far, names of several senior leaders like Mukul Wasnik, Mallikarjun Kharge among others have been in circulation. However, no consensus candidate has emerged.
A section of senior leaders have also approached Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi to become the provisional party president once again but she is learnt to have categorically turned it down.
Another section of senior leaders are of the opinion that the next CWC meeting, after Mr. Gandhi’s formal resignation, should start the process of election of a new All India Congress Committee (AICC).
And until the AICC election process gets completed, general secretaries who are in charge of party affairs in the States should be fully empowered to discharge their responsibilities.
Mr. Gandhi had informed the CWC, as far back as May 25, about his decision to step down to own responsibility for the 2019 Lok Sabha debacle. Though the CWC had rejected it unanimously, Mr. Gandhi has been firm on his decision.
Since then more than seven weeks have passed and Congress veterans have questioned the delay. “As someone who joined the Congress in 1967, over half a century ago, I am aghast to see the confusion and disorientation into which the party has fallen since Rahul Gandhi resigned on May 25,” Karan Singh had said last week.
