Rahul to take over as Congress chief soon: Sonia

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi confirmed on Friday that her son, Rahul, would soon take over from her as the party chief, making it clear that ongoing organisational polls would clinch the much-awaited generational change.

"You have been asking this for so many years and it's now happening," Sonia Gandhi told a TV channel, pointing at Rahul Gandhi at a function here. Her comments indicate that he is likely to take charge after Diwali.

Rahul sidestepped the subject by referring to a controversy over BJP president Amit Shah's son. "What about Jay Shah's takeover and the huge increase in his turnover?" he said, according to the channel. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet before Diwali to approve the election schedule for the post of Congress president.

Almost all the states, as well as party wings such as the Youth Congress, have already passed resolutions seeking Rahul Gandhi's elevation as the party chief.

The overwhelming demand in favour of Rahul indicates that there would be no challenger to the Gandhi scion unlike the past aberrations when Gandhi family members faced in-house contenders. The last instance was when the late Jitendra Prasada contested against Sonia Gandhi in 2000.

Sources said while the poll schedule would announce the dates of nomination, scrutiny, withdrawal and voting, the election was likely to be uncontested. The party is pushing to clinch the organisational polls by October 25.