'Will Force Rahul Gandhi To Become Congress President', Says Mallikarjun Kharge Citing Lack Of Alternative

According to the RS Leader of Opposition, anyone desiring to head the party should be well-known throughout the country and have support from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and West Bengal to Gujarat.

Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi.

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Rahul Gandhi will be chased to return as Congress President since no one else in the party has a pan-India appeal, according to senior politician M Mallikarjun Kharge, news agency PTI reported.

According to the Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition, anyone desiring to head the party should be well-known throughout the country and have support from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and West Bengal to Gujarat.

"He should be well-recognised, accepted man to the entire Congress party", Kharge informed PTI on Friday. "So, no body is there (in the party with such a stature)," he added. 

He recounted how all top party officials "pressed" Sonia Gandhi to join and work for the party, and how Rahul Gandhi was asked to "come and fight."

"You tell me the alternative. Who is there? (in the party other than Rahul Gandhi)", Kharge asked.

In response to claims that Rahul Gandhi is hesitant to take up the mantle, Kharge stated that he will be requested and asked to do so "for the sake of the party, for the sake of the country, for fighting the RSS-BJP and to keep the country united".

Kharge also mentioned the party's planned "Bharat Jodo Yatra," saying Rahul Gandhi is required for "Jodo Bharat."

"We will ask him, we will force him and request him (to return as Congress President). We stand behind him. We will try to pursue him", the former Union Minister was quoted by PTI in its report.

On Sunday, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's top decision-making body, will have a virtual meeting to ratify the calendar of dates for the Congress president's election.

The CWC meeting will be presided over by Sonia Gandhi. Several politicians have publicly urged Rahul Gandhi to return to the helm of the party. However, the topic remains fraught with doubt and suspense. According to some party sources, Rahul Gandhi is sticking to his position that he would not be AICC president.

He resigned as Congress president after the party was defeated for the second time in parliamentary elections in 2019.

Sonia Gandhi, who took over the party as temporary president again, had also promised to resign in August 2020 following an open mutiny by a group of leaders known as the G-23, but the CWC persuaded her to stay.

(With Inputs From PTI)