Elections will be held for Congress Working Committee next month: sources (File photo)
Rahul Gandhi wants elections for the Congress Working Committee or CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, and these could be held during a party meet next month, top Congress sources have told NDTV.
If Mr Gandhi, who took over as Congress president in December last, holds elections for the CWC, he will be breaking from the practice followed by his predecessor and mother Sonia Gandhi, who preferred to nominate all the members of the CWC during her 19 year run as party chief.
The sources said the CWC elections could be held during a three-day session of the All-India Congress Committee or AICC, a larger group of party leaders, in mid- March. Elections were last held for the CWC in 1997, when Sitaram Kesri was Congress president. Sonia Gandhi took over in 1998.
If he calls for elections Rahul Gandhi will be going by the book. According to the Congress' constitution 10 members of the CWC are to be elected by delegates and the party president can nominate another 10. The committee must have at least 20 members, though it often includes more members as permanent invitees.
Mr Gandhi has favoured elections for all party organisations he directly handled as Congress vice president, like students wing NSUI and the Youth Congress. A complete election process was followed when he became party president, though there were no challengers and critics mocked it as a "sham" alleging dynastic politics.
Since he took over as Congress chief, Rahul Gandhi, 47, has sought to revive several party traditions. He has begun to visit the Congress' headquarters at 24 Akbar Road in Delhi on several days of the week to interact with party delegations from different states. In one such meeting earlier this month he met Congress workers from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, states where elections will be held this year.
The office of the Congress president at the headquarters has been renovated for Mr Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi barely used it during her tenure, visiting the party headquarters only for important meetings like those of the CWC or on days when functions were held. She preferred to hold meetings at her 10 Janpath home which adjoins the Congress headquarters.
In the past, former Congress chiefs like Indira Gandhi, Rahul's grandmother and former Prime Minister, met party workers at a
janata durbar in the office.