The Congress may appoint an interim president later this week to steer the party until a formal election for the top post, amid growing unease in its ranks. Rahul Gandhi, who resigned as party president, urged colleagues during an informal discussion in Parliament on Tuesday to speed up a decision on the arrangement that will replace him.

Rahul Gandhi rules out family

Gandhi firmly rejected suggestions that a member of his family, including his sister Priyanka Gandhi, should take over as party chief. A senior leader familiar with the discussions said an interim president or in-charge could be announced and take over within the week, describing this as “the necessary first step before elections to the party president’s post are formally called by the CWC”.

Pressure within the party

Shashi Tharoor, Karan Singh and Captain Amarinder Singh are among senior leaders who have urged the party to settle the leadership question, which has been pending since Gandhi stepped down after the Congress’s heavy defeat in the general election in May. In that election the BJP won 303 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats and the Congress 52.

The party has since seen a steady stream of departures, with MLAs in Maharashtra, where assembly polls are due, quitting the Congress. On Tuesday, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Sinh resigned his seat in the House to join the BJP.

Names in the frame

About half a dozen names were being discussed for the interim post, among them:

• Rajasthan leaders Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot;
• Jyotiraditya Scindia;
• Sushil Kumar Shinde;
• K C Venugopal, the party’s general secretary in charge of organisation.

What happened next

Rahul Gandhi’s resignation as Congress president is dated July 2019. In August 2019, Sonia Gandhi became the party’s interim president. Mallikarjun Kharge was later elected president of the Congress in October 2022.

See also: Indian National Congress and political leaders.

Originally published on 31 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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