New Delhi: Amid the crisis in Madhya Pradesh where the Kamal Nath-led party government seems on the verge of collapse, former Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit on Monday demanded that the party should either reinstall Rahul Gandhi as its chief or hold an election for the Congress top leader to end the “uncertainty” in the party.
“Extraordinary situation demands extraordinary solutions. The Congress Working Committee and senior leaders of the party should talk to Rahul Gandhi.
“If not, then a new President should be elected and the uncertainty in the party should end soon,” Dikshit said in an interview to IANS.
Recalling that a few months back, Gandhi has said that he will not become the President again and it is time that the new party chief should be from outside the Gandhi family, he said: “Rahul Gandhi has himself suggested that the President could be elected from outside the family. The Working Committee could not find a new President this has created a despair in the party
“But if the senior leaders want Sonia Gandhi as President, then she should be made full time President… why is there uncertainty? We should talk amongst us in an organised way and at least start a discussion and if at all, you need Rahul Gandhi, then all the senior leaders should go to him.”
Dikshit also suggested that senior party leaders should sit together and find out a solution as Rahul Gandhi has already said “No” to the post.
Asked his view about who could be the new chief, he said: “When the leaders will sit and seek my advice, I will definitely tell them.”
Dikshit also said that if the party has decided to go for organisational elections, then “the process should start immediately as the people are looking at Congress but the party is unable to give direction”.
He said that the election process will take one year and if it can be done in AICC level only, then also it should be done immediately.
The former Congress MP said that there is no dialogue within the party leaders and if they do not like each other, then also they should sit and talk for the sake of the party.
There are many voices emanating from different quarters in the party about the chief.
While many like Ajay Maken and others are batting for Rahul Gandhi, former Union Minister Manish Tewari had plumped for Sonia Gandhi and Anil Shastri suggested Priyanka Gandhi – with all contending that a non-Gandhi will not be accepted as the party leader.
Sonia Gandhi was appointed Interim President in August by the Congress Working Committee after Rahul Gandhi quit after the party’s debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls – the second successive rout, and resisted all requests to reconsider.
Apart from Dikshit, some other party leaders have flagged a leadership crisis in the party and sought it be resolved speedily, but the party had maintained that there is no situation.
“I don’t think there is a ‘leadership crisis’. Sonia Gandhi is the party’s interim President and the decisions are being taken in party,” senior party leader and former Union Minister Anand Sharma had said recently.
