Demands for Rahul Gandhi to take over as party chief dominate Congress meet on Covid-19

A meeting of Congress Lok Sabha MPs called by party president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and the political situation in the country was dominated by calls for Rahul Gandhi to take over as the party chief on Saturday.

The demand was first raised by party chief whip in Lok Sabha K Suresh and seconded by a majority of MPs who attended the virtual meeting that lasted over three hours, sources said. Suresh is learnt to have said that Rahul Gandhi, who has been at the forefront of espousing people’s issues during the pandemic, needs to take over the reigns of the Congress at this critical time.

The demands were raised with Rahul Gandhi in attendance at the meeting, even though neither he nor Sonia Gandhi said anything on this issue, the sources said. Manickam Tagore, Gaurav Gogoi, Anto Antony, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, and some others backed the demand.