NEW DELHI: As the suspense over Congress president
Rahul Gandhi's intent to leave the top post deepens, indications are that if he does not eventually relent, the party would have to put together an alternative mechanism for decision-making without the Gandhi scion.
The view emerging in the party is that Congress may have to name a senior leader as its "interim president" who would preside over a collegium of leaders for collective decision-making.
Sources said Congress veteran AK Antony is likely to meet the party chief as part of discussions over resolving the stalemate that has prevailed since the poll results gave them 52 seats. "There has been no progress yet," a senior leader said about efforts to persuade Rahul Gandhi to rethink his decision.
While the situation will change if he does come around and there will be no need to take recourse to other measures, party leaders feel some thinking is called for in the meanwhile. Sources said that a final decision is likely to emerge in the coming days. Foremost, the party will decide by next week on who would head Congress in the Lok Sabha.
While the possibility of electing "working presidents" and a collegium has been speculated in the aftermath of the CWC meeting where Rahul announced his decision to step down, the talk appears more plausible in the wake of the
Congress chief's continuing insistence on leaving the presidency.
There is pressure on Rahul Gandhi to take the post of Congress leader in the Lower House. The Parliament session is commencing on June 17. The post has arisen because the party’s leader in the 16th Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, lost in the recent parliamentary polls.
Senior leaders have been waiting to meet the Congress president for the last fortnight but none has been given the appointment since Rahul announced his intent to quit at the CWC meeting on May 25. At the meeting, Rahul also stated that somebody outside the Gandhi family should be picked to head the organisation.