Ashok Gehlot, Sushilkumar Shinde, Mallikarjun Kharge vying for top Congress post

New Delhi: The Congress constitution also deems that in such circumstances, the CWC gets powers to take any decision, which then needs to be ratified by the AICC within the next six months.

However, sources said that Mr Gandhi continues to be the Congress president till the CWC formally accepts his resignation letter.

AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal has already started calling up members of the CWC in order to decide on a date for the meeting.

Thus, whoever is selected as Congress president by the CWC will have to be ratified by the AICC in the next six months or if elections are held for the position.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Karnataka leader Mallikarjun Kharge are among the frontrunners.

Incidentally, it is not necessary for Mr Gandhi to attend the meeting. Mr Gandhi has said time and again since the May 25 meeting that he would not be part of the process to select a new Congress president.

The formal letter of resignation comes over a month after he had made his intent to quit clear at a stocktaking meeting of the CWC after the Lok Sabha results, with the Congress suffering a major debacle.

In the four-page letter released on Twitter, Mr Gandhi asked the Congress Working Committee to entrust a group of people with the task of finding a new president as it would not be proper for him to do so, and stressed on the need for the Congress to “radically transform itself”.

At the May 25 CWC meeting, Mr Gandhi is understood to have directly blamed Mr Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath and senior leader P. Chidambaram for seeking tickets for their sons.

The Wayanad MP said he had personally fought Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and the institutions they have captured with all his being. “I fought because I love India... At times I stood completely alone and am extremely proud of it. The stated objectives of the RSS, the capture of our country’s institutional structure, is now complete. Our democracy has been fundamentally weakened. There is a real danger that from now on (that) elections will go from being a determinant of India’s future to a mere ritual.”

The letter goes on to say that this capture of power will result in “unimaginable levels of violence and pain for India”, while alleging that the PM’s win does not negate the “breadth of corruption allegations against him”. The Indian nation must unite to reclaim and resuscitate its institutions, and the instrument of this resuscitation will be the Congress, he said: “To achieve this important task, the Congress Party must radically transform itself. Today the BJP is systematically crushing the voice of the Indian people. It is the duty of the Congress Party to defend these voices. India has never and will never be one voice. It is and always will be a symphony of voices. That is the true essence of Bharat Mata.”

He added that he did not fight a political party in the 2019 election but the entire machinery of the Indian State.

Since his resignation, the party saw prolonged drama with senior leaders requesting him to continue, while demonstrations were held in front of the AICC office and many junior party functionaries quit.