New Delhi: With the Bihar win, Congress leaders renewed their campaign for elevating party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to the post of president. Congress general secretary C.P. Joshi on Monday said that the party workers feel the time has come for Gandhi to take over as the Congress president in the wake of its improved show in the Bihar polls.
The Congress leader stressed that the victory of the Grand Secular Alliance over the NDA, led by PM Modi, will have “far reaching ramifications both nationally and internationally”. “Feeling of the Congress workers now is that Gandhi should take over as the party president,” Joshi told reporters at the AICC briefing.
He also hailed the Congress vice-president as the “architect” of the grand alliance, In fact, Joshi added that Gandhi played a key role in stitching the tie up for the Bihar elections.
Joshi said that while JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar provided leadership to the alliance, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav gave it strength. Incidentally, Joshi’s remarks have come at a time when Congress leaders are losing no time in crediting Mr Gandhi for the victory after the spectacular win of the Nitish Kumar-led coalition in Bihar.
While Mr Kumar is the architect of the victory in Bihar, Mr Gandhi is the architect of the alliance, is the refrain being heard in the Congress.
Another party general secretary Shakeel Ahmed has already insisted that the grand alliance could not have been possible but for the effective role played by Mr Gandhi. Meanwhile, the Congress sidestepped questions whether Kumar could emerge as the rallying point of anti-BJP forces in the next Lok Sabha elections following his spectacular victory in Bihar. “It is relevant only after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are declared. It is not relevant now,” Joshi said.
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