Sonia Gandhi to lead new Congress MPs in Parliament

New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi has been chosen the Chairperson of the Congress’ elected Parliamentarians at the meeting of the Party’s Parliamentary Committee this morning. Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh proposed her name.

The suspense is now over whom the Chairperson names as the Leader of the Party in Parliament — her son Rahul Gandhi, who wants to step down as Party Chief, or another member. Amid efforts to get him to change his mind about resigning the Party post, the Congress has debated the possibility of Rahul Gandhi at least leading the Party in the Parliament.

The Congress is three members short of the figure that would qualify it for the post of the Leader of the Opposition. The rout in the recently held Lok Sabha elections has left the Party with 52 lawmakers — marginally higher than the figure of 44 in 2014.

The position of the Leader of the Congress was occupied by Party veteran Mallikarjun Kharge in the last Lok Sabha. Kharge, however, lost the election from Kalaburagi (Karnataka), the first electoral loss for the 9-time Legislator and two-term LS member.

This post was published on June 1, 2019 7:54 pm