Sonia Gandhi named interim Congress president

Sonia Gandhi was named the new interim President of the Congress party tonight, two and half months after her son Rahul Gandhi quit the top organisational post of the party taking responsibility for its crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

Senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad made the announcement after day-long deliberations of the party's top decision-making forum -- the Congress Working Committee -- held to pick a new party president necessitated by Rahul's resignation from the post on May 25, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Thus, 72-year-old Sonia has returned as the party chief one and half years after she had handed over the baton to 49-year-old Rahul on December 16 in 2017. When Rahul had become the head of the 133-year-old party, it marked a generational shift in the Congress' top leadership.

The CWC made a last ditch effort on Saturday evening to persuade Rahul Gandhi to continue as the party president, and proposed that if Rahul still doesn't relent, Sonia Gandhi should be the interim president and oversee elections for the top post.

It unanimously appealed to Rahul Gandhi to lead the party, saying he was the best person for the top post at the time when the BJP-led government was "assaulting democracy".

The search for a new president was necessitated by Rahul Gandhi's insistence on stepping down from the party's top post following the Lok Sabha polls defeat. Over the next two months and more, there have been numerous attempts to persuade him but Rahul Gandhi stood his ground, owning responsibility for the party's humiliating defeat in the national elections.

The CWC met here twice -- first in the morning and again in the evening to decide on the next Congress President to replace Rahul Gandhi.

The party's 54-member apex body accepted Rahul Gandhi's suggestion to make the exercise more participatory and get the opinions of party leaders from different states as well.

The CWC then decided to form five zonal groups to consult with state leaders to zero-in on a party chief.

Sonia Gandhi was named to interact with the leaders from eastern region of the country while Rahul Gandhi was requested to interact with the leaders from the west zone. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was made part of the group for the north, Manmohan Singh for the south and Ambika Soni for the northeast.

However, Sonia and Rahul recused from the consultation process and left the party's national headquarters, the meeting venue, soon after the CWC meet finished.