The chorus to retain Sonia Gandhi as the Congress president started hours after a news report about a letter written by senior Congress leaders demanding clarity on the leadership question. All the four Congress Chief Ministers — Ashok Gehlot, Captain Amarinder Singh, Bhupesh Baghel and V. Narayansamy — along with more than 10 State units have come out in her support.

The outpouring came a day before the Congress Working Committee is to meet making the outcome a foregone conclusion. The CWC has three options in front of it: one, Sonia Gandhi can be pressed to continue as a full time president foregoing the “interim” tag; second, Rahul Gandhi who was elected for a term till 2022, is persuaded to return to the post; and third to place a dummy candidate, who can sit-in for the Gandhi family.

The current CWC is heavily tilted in favour of the Gandhi family. However, among the members — Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Jitin Prasada — had endorsed the letter to Ms. Gandhi asking her to settle the leadership question. Another CWC member Deependra Hooda’s father Bhupinder Hooda is also one of the signatories of that letter.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in a series of tweets said at this “crucial juncture” in the fight to save the ethos of democracy, Ms. Gandhi should continue to lead the party.

“But if she has made up her mind, I believe @RahulGandhi should come ahead and be the Congress president as the country faces the biggest challenge to save our Constitution-Democracy,” Mr. Gehlot said.

Mr. Baghel, in a written statement in Hindi, giving credit to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for the electoral victories in Chattisgarh and Rajasthan and impressive performance in Gujarat, said, “In the troubled times our country is going through, Rahul-ji and Sonia-ji are the only ray of hope.”

Puducherry CM V. Narayansamy said the letter written by senior Congress leaders will only create confusion in the minds of millions of Congressmen.

Lok Sabha floor leader for the Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in a letter to Sonia Gandhi hit out at those demanding an overhaul.

“We the members of Parliament representing the length and breadth of the country, have heard and read with dismay and disbelief these claims being made by even those members of the party who have benefited and grown in the Congress due to your encouragement and the faith that you placed in them,” Mr. Chowdhury wrote.

Mr. Chowdhury is also a member of the CWC.

Also read: Should the Gandhis disengage from the Congress?

Another CWC member Indian Youth Congress President B.V. Srinivas tweeted: “Whether it was the freedom struggle in this country or the whole journey of building India, the Gandhi family has always sacrificed, martyred for the sake of this country.”

Lok Sabha MP from Virudhnagar constituency, B. Manickam Tagore, said the bogey of a “leadership crisis” is being raised at the behest of some interested parties in a deliberate attempt to weaken the party.

Earlier in the day senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid had said consensus must given a chance instead of an election.

Adding that Rahul Gandhi enjoys full support of party leaders and workers, Mr Khurshid said, “I have said very clearly that the Gandhis are leaders of the Congress. Nobody can deny this, even the opposition cannot deny this. I am quite happy having a leader, I don’t worry about whether or not we have a president, we have a leader (in Rahul Gandhi) and that is comforting for me.”