Mr.Rahul Gandhi is the Congress President now as he is the only person to file nomination for the post. Mere formal announcement yet to come after the withdrawal date of December 11.
Presently he is Vice President and will take over from his mother Mrs.Sonia Gandhi, who will demit after record 19 years in the office. In the 132 years Congress history from 1888 to 2017 she is the longest serving Party President.
She assumed the office in 1998. In the year 2004 in her leadership the Congress defeated the full five year term Government of BJP led NDA of the Prime Minister Mr.Atal Bihari Vajpayee and regained power for Congress led UPA of Prime Minister Mr.Manmohan Singh.
The another achievement was that UPA was again voted to power in 2009 and the Government ruled by 10 years in continuation from 22 May 2004 to 25 May 2014. Mrs.Sonia Gandhi is having some serious ailment and she was operated upon. Now she, her family and the party want to relieve her of hardwork.
In recent elections in the states on health ground she kept away from election campaigns. Presently the Vice President Mr.Rahul Gandhi is holding the fort in Himachal and Gujarat elections. Mrs.Sonia Gandhi, Mr.Manmohan Singh and Mr.Pranab Mukherjee are there as guardian leaders of the party.
With Mr.Rahul Gandhi a new era of youth leadership in the party has started. Mr.Rahul Gandhi and his team will face the Lok Sabha in the coming 2019. The BJP particularly Mr.Narendra Modi is casting aspersions on Mr.Rahul Gandhi elevation to Party Presidency as dynastic takeover.
Actually such things happened in Congress earlier also. The Nehru-Congress family is devoted to the Congress since the days freedom struggle. In the year 1928 Mr.Motilal Nehru was Congress President and next year in 1929 his son Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the Congress President.
In 1978 Mrs.Indira Gandhi became Congress President till 1983 and in 1984 her son Mr.Rajiv Gandhi became party President. In 1998 Mrs.Sonia Gandhi became President till 2017. Now Mr.Rahul Gandhi is taking over from her. The family has record of service and devotion for the Congress.
Pandit Motilal Nehru was Congress President in the year 1919 and 1928, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the year 1929-1936, 1937-1946 and 1951 to 1954, Mrs.Indira Gandhi from 1978 to 1983, Mr.Rajiv Gandhi 1984 to 1990 and Mrs.Sonia Gandhi fro 1998 to 2017. During the freedom struggle the Congress had 2 Centres.
One where Mahatma Gandhi resided – Sabarmati Ashram of Ahmedabad and Pavnar Ashram in Wardha. The other centre was Swaraj Bhawan of Allahabad which Mr.Motilal Nehru gave permanently to Congress. It is not dynasty but devotion and dedication of Nehru-Gandhi family towards Congress.
