Rahul Gandhi Wants State Congress Leaders to Help Pick His Successor
Ahead of a key meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in New Delhi, outgoing party president Rahul Gandhi stepped into the process of choosing his successor, according to party sources, who said he did not want the decision left only to the party’s senior veterans.
A wider selection process
The CWC, the party’s top decision-making body, was to meet on Saturday to name a new president after Rahul Gandhi resigned following the Lok Sabha defeat. Sources said it might choose an interim president who would then call fresh elections for the post.
After a meeting on Friday evening, Rahul Gandhi is said to have told colleagues that the CWC should not decide alone, and that general secretaries of the Pradesh Congress Committees should join CWC members in picking a name.
The contenders
Former Union ministers Mallikarjun Kharge and Mukul Wasnik, both Dalit leaders seen as loyal to the Gandhi family, were viewed as frontrunners. Wasnik, from Maharashtra, once headed the Youth Congress; Kharge, from Karnataka, was the party’s leader in the 16th Lok Sabha. Each of them lost in the recent Lok Sabha election.
Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora again backed Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia, saying either could “reinvigorate the party”. On Friday, Sonia Gandhi held talks with senior leaders AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and KC Venugopal. The family had rejected suggestions to make Priyanka Gandhi Vadra party chief.
A party under strain
Since the defeat, the Congress-JD(S) government in Karnataka had collapsed, some leaders in Maharashtra had moved to the BJP and Shiv Sena, and two party members from Assam had quit their Rajya Sabha seats during the budget session. They included chief whip Bhubaneswar Kalita, who joined the BJP on Friday, and Sanjay Sinh of Amethi, seen as close to the Gandhis, who cited disorder in the party. Shashi Tharoor and Karan Singh had expressed worry that the leadership question remained unclear.
What happened next
Sonia Gandhi became interim Congress president in August 2019, and Mallikarjun Kharge was elected president in October 2022.
See also: Indian National Congress and Lok Sabha members.
Originally published on 10 August 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.
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