The post of the party president fell vacant after Rahul Gandhi quit in May, owning responsibility for the drubbing Congress received at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet to select its new interim president on Saturday (August 10).
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday said that even a “slightest” delay in appointing a new president was “not an option”.
The post of the party president fell vacant after Rahul Gandhi quit in May, owning responsibility for the drubbing Congress received at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha polls.
According to a report in NDTV.com, Mukul Wasnik has emerged as the front runner for the post.
If what the NDTV report does come out to be true, a non-Gandhi would become party president for the first time in two decades -- owing to the fact that the Gandhi family members, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, are all currently active in politics, but have refused to be a part of the process.
The decision was taken on Friday at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee -- attended by the likes of AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and KV Venugopal.
For over two months, the Congress has been in an organisational mess -- starting with the national election debacle, resignation of Rahul Gandhi and the recent glaring rift in the party over the revocation of Article 370.
While some leaders have cried controversy at the Centre's move in Parliament, a few others have openly supported it.
Wasnik has worked in the Congress governments of PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. He has also worked as general secretary for Sonia Gandhi.
