Sonia Gandhi has returned as the interim chief of the Congress party, so have the name plates that were hanged outside her cabin for almost 19 years with the designation ‘President’ next to her name.
After the Congress Working Committee (CWC) unanimously elected her as the interim president of the party on Saturday, 10 August, the old name plates outside Sonia Gandhi’s cabin at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters were reinstalled on Wednesday, 14 August.
The announcement was made on Saturday night after CWC accepted Rahul Gandhi's resignation at its second meeting of the day.
The party’s highest decision-making body banked on the experience and tested leadership of Sonia Gandhi, to lead it in what the CWC described as “trying times”.
She returned as party president almost 20 months after making way for his son Rahul Gandhi in December 2017. Sonia has led the party for almost 19 years before she quit the post citing health reasons.
She returned to the helm of the party two months after the Congress suffered a massive drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership.
The CWC met twice during the day to find a successor to Rahul Gandhi and Sonia's name was decided after hours of consultations with top party leaders, including state unit chiefs, Congress Legislature Party leaders, party MPs, besides leaders of frontal organisations.
The Congress Working Committee on Saturday passed three resolutions on Rahul Gandhi's contribution as party president, Sonia Gandhi being appointed interim chief till the AICC elects a regular president, and on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Loss and Legacy
Sonia Gandhi deftly led the Congress for 19 long years and wrested power twice at the Centre and in several states, she was back in the saddle on Saturday to steer it out of troubled waters once again.
Once considered the unlikely heir to the political legacy of the Gandhi family, Sonia has earned the distinction of being the longest serving president of India's grand old party.
She has credited her mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira for the experience she gained in learning the intricacies of politics and she has proved this to every Congress leader when she steered the party to new avenues of success during her tenure.
When Sonia had decided to retire and hand over the crown to Rahul Gandhi, one realised that she had to be brought back to lead the party whose fortunes were going down after every election.
After Sonia's entry in politics in 1998, when the Congress was in tatters at the Centre and in power only in four states, she agreed to pick up the party reins, after she was persuaded to do so in the wake of senior leaders quitting the party to set up regional outfits.
The same situation is emerging again in the Congress when disgruntled partymen are leaving the grand old party to join the ruling BJP.
When the Congress was in a shambles, Sonia - described by sections of the media as the most powerful woman in India – steered it to victory in 2004, ousting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
When it appeared all set to occupy the highest office in the country, she sprung a surprise when she took a back seat and chose Manmohan Singh as the prime minister of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
Sonia has taken a back seat in the recent past after several rounds of illness, but has once again been seen as an aggressive opposition leader, signalling her party MPs to put the government on may and corner it in Parliament.
Her sharpest weapon being her silence, as she spoke little and seldom in public, but wielded enormous power within the Congress.
(With inputs from PTI)
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