Rahul Gandhi to take charge as Congress president today

Rahul Gandhi to take charge as Congress president today

Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi will take over as Congress chief today, in place of his mother Sonia Gandhi, a generational shift at the top of India’s oldest party that could have trickle-down effects too. Mr Gandhi, who has often been seen as a reluctant politician, was named the chief-to-be on Monday after no one else from his party challenged him in the internal election.

Mr Gandhi’s promotion, however, comes at a tumultuous time. The Gujarat election, where the final phase of voting was held this week, was the first time that Rahul Gandhi led the party’s campaign from the front. Though his party billed it as a sign of an overhauled public image, nearly all exit polls have predicted the Congress losing to the BJP by a large margin. The Congress is also widely expected to lose Himachal Pradesh. Results for both the state elections will be declared on Monday.

But formalities apart, he is, however, already believed to have taken charge. It was Rahul Gandhi who had rebuked veteran leader Mani Shankar Aiyar when he scored a goal against his own team with his “neech aadmi” comment against Prime Minister Narendra and later decided to suspend the Gandhi family loyalist.

Rahul Gandhi was elevated as the party’s vice president in January 2013 and has since then, operated as the party’s number 2. Mrs Gandhi, 70, the party’s longest-serving chief, has been keeping unwell in recent years and had scaled back her public engagements, pushing to the fore Rahul Gandhi.