Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu Congress join other PCCs, want Rahul Gandhi to be party chief

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New Delhi: After Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, the Congress units in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu on Monday (September 19, 2022) passed resolutions that Rahul Gandhi be made the party's president. While the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) passed the resolution in a meeting of 553 delegates of the MPCC held at the YB Chavan center in South Mumbai, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee adopted a unanimous resolution in the party's state general council meeting held in Chennai.

In Maharashtra, the resolution was moved by former state chief minister Ashok Chavan and seconded by senior leaders including Naseem Khan and Chandrakant Handore, which was then unanimously passed.

In Tamil Nadu, the resolution seeking Rahul Gandhi to assume the office of the All India Congress Committee President was proposed by TNCC President KS Alagiri and was passed unanimously.

Earlier, the Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh units of the Congress had urged the party's national leadership to make Rahul Gandhi the president of the grand old party.

It is notable that similar resolutions were passed in 2017 before Rahul Gandhi was elevated as the Congress president. He, however, stepped down in 2019 after the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.

Amid hectic efforts and appeals to convince him to take on the job of the party president, Gandhi said earlier this month that he had made his decision on whether he would take up the party presidency. He, however, did not divulge his plans and asserted that he would give his reasons if he did not contest the upcoming election for the post.

Gandhi's remarks were seen by many in the party as an indication that he might stick to his earlier stance of not taking up the party chief's post. 

Congress had last month said that the election for its president would be held on October 17 and the result will be declared on October 19. 

(With agency inputs)