Rahul Gandhi presides over meetings to discuss Assam, Tamil Nadu polls

When Rahul Gandhi presided over meetings regarding the Tamil Nadu and Assam elections on Monday, he made it clear at the outset that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had assigned him the task. He said he was there to listen to what the party functionaries had to say and convey that to Sonia Gandhi. People aware of the matter said the message was clear that Rahul Gandhi was only carrying out Sonia Gandhi’s orders and his return as Congress president after he resigned from the post last year was not to be taken for granted.

Speculation about Rahul Gandhi’s return as the Congress chief has renewed since Sonia Gandhi left for Goa on the advice of her doctors for health reasons because of growing pollution in Delhi. The party is also committed to conducting elections for the post of the party president by January. The announcement was made after a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in August when 23 leaders wrote a letter asking for internal polls.

KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik, Ambika Soni, and Randeep Surjewala, who are part of the team set up to assist Sonia Gandhi, attended Monday’s meetings. AK Antony, another member of the team, is recovering from Covid-19 and could not attend them. CWC member P Chidambaram, Dinesh Gundu Rao, and Manickam Tagore were among others who attended the meetings.