(LiveMint)
Rahul Gandhi is set to be named as the next president of the Congress on Monday, a role that will need him to take along the old guard while breathing new life into the party in order to face up to the challenge of a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Monday is the last date for withdrawal of candidature, and Gandhi is the only candidate in the race to fill his mother Sonia Gandhi’s shoes as party president.The 47-year-old leader will become the sixth member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to take over the top post. Gandhi’s elevation comes at a time when the Congress has lost elections in over a dozen states since 2014 and faces alarming erosion in its support-base particularly in northern India.
Several party leaders say that Gandhi’s elevation points to a “paradigm shift” which the party is going through and which, by all accounts, is likely to be his single biggest challenge as he prepares to lead India’s grand old party. Born and brought up in Delhi, Gandhi grew up in a family that has given the country three prime ministers—Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. After earning an MPhil from Cambridge University in the UK, according to the Lok Sabha website, and a stint at a corporate job, Rahul Gandhi began his political career in 2004 with his election to the Lok Sabha from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, which he continues to represent.
