CWC to decide on Congress chief after Rahul returns

 The Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet in the coming days soon after outgoing party chief Rahul Gandhi returns to India, said a senior party leader on Wednesday.

Senior Congress leader P.L. Punia told IANS: "The CWC will sit in the coming week to decide on a new party chief."

He said the CWC, the party's top decision making body, will decide on the names.

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and General Secretary Harish Rawat told IANS that the CWC would be called in August to discuss the new party chief and it would not be fair to herald a guess ahead of the meeting.

"Currently the discussions over the new party are taking place at every level of the party."

This, he said, was happening for the first time.

"And I think that Rahul Gandhi and senior party leaders will respect the feelings of the party workers," he said.

Rahul Gandhi resigned as the Congress President after the party suffered a rout in the Lok Sabha elections.

"But his resignation has not been accepted by the CWC yet," Rawat said.

"So technically it cannot be said that the party is headless. So, the CWC will decide on his resignation and a temporary arangement will be made."

The party is also reportedly mulling the idea of a Presidium system and of having several Working Presidents. IANS