Gandhi, who has won from Wayanad in Kerala as well as Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and remained the biggest draw for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, told the committee that he will consider the proposal and decide in the next few days.
For the past 10 years, the Congress, which is the largest Opposition party in Parliament, did not meet the criteria to get the LoP status in the Lower House. This time, with 99 seats, the party is entitled to get the LoP post, which has the status of a cabinet minister.
“In a resolution, the CWC unanimously requested Rahul Gandhi to take the LoP post in the Lok Sabha. All participants, in their view, were unanimous that Rahul Gandhi should become the LoP,” Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said after the CWC meeting.
“In this election, we raised burning issues such as unemployment, price rise, women’s issues, Agniveer and social justice. These issues have to be continued in a greater manner inside Parliament as well. Rahul Gandhi is the best person to lead this campaign in the Lok Sabha. In the current scenario, for a better, stronger and vigilant Opposition and those who want to protect the Constitution, it should be safe under Rahul Gandhi as LoP,” Venugopal added.
According to three CWC members, party veteran Digvijaya Singh was the first to suggest Gandhi’s name as the LoP. Both Singh and Gaurav Gogoi, the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, argued that as the LoP, Gandhi would be best suited to amplify the Congress’s ideology and key issues raised during the elections.
Punjab leader Partap Singh Bajwa is said to have told Gandhi, “I know you don’t like positions, but this is a responsibility.”
He also pointed out that some of the NDA allies are not comfortable with certain schemes such as Agniveer and MSP issues and Gandhi could build more pressure on the government. “You would be working on your election guarantees even when sitting in the Opposition,” he said.
After other speakers also urged Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge reminded him that after the CWC has passed a resolution, Gandhi has to accept the post. “Rahul Gandhi smiled and told the CWC that he will consider and take his decision in a few days,” said a senior member of the panel.
Even as Congress parliamentary party Chief Sonia Gandhi remained silent, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lauded her brother’s role in the election. Priyanka mentioned that at times, she had doubts if the party would be able to revive but Rahul “was the only one who had unflinching faith in the Congress’s ability to bounce back”.
In his speech, Rahul Gandhi took a dig at those who have left the Congress and said, “Whoever had to leave, have left. Those who are here are warriors.”
Gandhi also heaped praise on Kharge, 81, for undertaking such extensive campaign across the country at his age. He also praised the party’s communication on its 25 guarantees and said, “This time we didn’t allow anyone to derail our narrative.”
He argued that the party’s communication on the Constitution, social justice and the guarantees had been strong and “the BJP couldn’t match us on these issues. In this election, our party and people of India fought together. Earlier people said many things about us. But now it is clear that nobody can destroy the Congress party.”
The main resolution of the CWC also praised Gandhi for his role in the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign.
“Former Congress President Shri Rahul Gandhi has to be singled out largely because of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra that he designed and led. Both these Yatras that reflected his own thinking and personality were historic turning points in our nation’s politics and instilled hope and confidence in lakhs of our workers and crores of our voters,” the resolution said.
“Shri Rahul Gandhi’s election campaign was single-minded, sharp and pointed and more than any other individual it was he who made the protection of our republic’s Constitution the central issue in the 2024 elections. The Paanch Nyay-Pachees Guarantee programme which resonated so very powerfully in the election campaign was the outcome of Rahulji’s yatras in which he listened to the fears, concerns and aspirations of all people, especially the youth, women, farmers, workers, Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and minorities,” it added.
In the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19), Kharge was the Congress floor leader before he shifted to the Rajya Sabha. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was the party’s floor leader in the Lok Sabha during 2019-2024.
Courtesy: Hindustan Times
