Curioser and curiouser: New report says Rahul will not be made Congress chief anytime soon

Despite the buzz, it is now gradually becoming apparent that Rahul Gandhi in all likelihood won’t be anointed as the Congress chief in April. There is also no confirmation that there will be a special session of the All India Congress Committee, at which it was first rumoured that the current vice president would take over the reins of the grand old party from his mother.

A report in The Economic Times said that senior Congress leaders denied that there was any difference within the party between the old and new guard,  and have reiterated that Rahul Gandhi’s much talked about ’leave of absence’ was not because of any issues he was having with the current dispensation.

Earlier this month there were indications that Gandhi, who is currently the vice president, could be made the party head as early as April, 2015 even before the tenure of Congress president Sonia Gandhi comes to an end in September.

Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh and senior leader Kamal Nath had earlier sought Rahul’s elevation as party head in order to remove the dual power centres in the party, with one camp of leaders loyal to mother Sonia Gandhi while another were supporters of her son. But the Congress insisted there was no difference of opinion between the mother-son duo.

“Mother and son play “cohesive but complementary roles” and “Sonia Gandhi is looking at Rahul to take the Congress forward."— a senior Congress leader told The Economic Times .

Notwithstanding the hush-hush talk of leadership change, it is however evident that the Congress clan won’t go against the diktat of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Sonia Gandhi has been looking after the reins of the Congress since 1998 and led her party to victory twice. According to a story, published earlier on Firstpost “Rahul Gandhi was elevated from the post of general secretary to vice president in a Chintan Shivir in Jaipur in January 2013.”

Although the country’s grand old party has been passing through a rough patch of late, the family still rules supreme and any decision regarding handing over of baton would have the Gandhi seal of approval.