Can Congress Leadership Vacuum Lead to A Non-Gandhi President?

The lingering Congress leadership crisis has taken the centre stage once again as the Interim Chief Sonia Gandhi offered to resign from her post, urging her party members to look for a replacement. This political drama unfolded in the Congress Working Committee meeting, on 24th August, a day after over 23 senior leaders demand for a ‘revival’ in the party became public. The signatories who include a number of significant party members like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Kapil Sibal, Milind Deora, Jitin Prasada and loyalists like Mukul Wasnik, wrote to Sonia Gandhi asking for “a full-time, visible leadership” in the party as a matter of “national imperative”. Even as these developments triggered a resounding support for the Gandhis’ leadership, it was reportedly decided that Sonia Gandhi would remain Congress party’s interim president for now, until a new chief is elected within the next 6 months. But was this dissent within the party unprecedented or long overdue? If Rahul Gandhi continues to be reluctant about being president, can it possibly lead to a non-Gandhi taking over the reins? Tune in to The Big Story! Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha Guests: Javed Ansari, Senior Journalist Aditya Menon, Political Editor, The Quint Editor: Shelly Walia Music: Big Bang Fuzz Listen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2IyLAUQ Deezer: http://bit.ly/2Vrf5Ng Castbox: http://bit.ly/2VqZ9ur Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices