Rahul's elevation as Congress President likely in October

New Delhi, Sept 5: Rahul Gandhi is likely to be elevated as the Congress President next month after the culmination of the organisational elections currently under way across the country.

Though there is no opposition from within the party to the much-anticipated change of guard at the helm, Rahul is expected to take the election route to the post instead of being appointed by the Congress Working Committee.

“Rahul will take over as Congress President after the culmination of the election process next month,” a Congress leader said.

The elevation comes ahead of the year end Gujarat assembly elections, where Rahul has challenged the supremacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah in their home state.

Rahu's leadership skills will also be put to test in Himachal Pradesh where Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has raised a banner of revolt against the state unit chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and declared that he will not contest the November assembly elections.

However, Rahul's team is expected to be a mix of the old guard and new faces as senior leaders such as Ashok Gehlot, Sushilkumar Shinde, Kamal Nath have been given key responsibilities in the organisation.

It has almost 10 months now since the Congress Working Committee urged Rahul, who was appointed as vice president in 2013, to take over the reins of the party.

The November 7 meeting last year was attended by top leaders including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former Defence Minister A K Antony among others. Congress President had skipped the CWC meeting on account of ill-health.

Organisational elections in the Congress have begun last month and according to the schedule approved by the CWC are expected to conclude by October 15.

Sonia Gandhi, who has been keeping indifferent health off late, has already withdrawn from day to day running of the organisational work and delegated most of the responsibilities to Rahul.

Sonia Gandhi has created a record by being the Congress President for nearly two decades since she assumed the post in 1998 after the ouster of Sitaram Kesari. Her term had ended in December 2015, but the CWC had been delaying internal elections which prompted the Election Commission to set a deadline of December this year to complete the process.