By IANS
New Delhi : Amid boisterous celebrations, India’s ruling Congress party Monday named first time MP Rahul Gandhi a general secretary and also a member of the powerful Congress Working Committee (CWC) in a clear sign that its president Sonia Gandhi’s son was being groomed for bigger responsibilities.
Hundreds of Congress supporters crowding the party headquarters and the street outside here erupted in joy, bursting firecrackers and beating drums, as it was announced that Rahul Gandhi would be one of the 11 general secretaries besides being inducted into the apex 23-member decision-making CWC.
Slogans of “Rahul Gandhi Zindabad!” and “Sonia Gandhi Zindabad!” rent the air. Very quickly, hundreds of cheering and dancing people virtually took over Akbar Road, waving photographs of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, forcing the police to close the street for normal traffic.
Asked if the 37-year-old Rahul – whose father Rajiv Gandhi, grandmother Indira Gandhi and great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru have all ruled India – was being groomed to lead the Congress into the next elections and to be prime minister one day, general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said: “It is for you to interpret, not for me to state.”
But others in the Congress, which the Nehru-Gandhi family has dominated for decades, and political analysts were in no doubt that Rahul’s promotion in a Gen Next re-hauling of the country’s oldest party was aimed at clearing the path for him to move upwards to the very heart of power.
Said Kishore Chandra Deo, who too has been appointed a general secretary: “It is a very good decision they have made. This will give him a good grounding. This is a right decision taken at the right time.”
Political analyst G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told IANS: “It is a mere confirmation of what everyone has known. He is being seen as the prime minister candidate.
“It signifies that Sonia Gandhi has given him in a formal role in the party organisation. Now that people are talking about early general elections, he will be talked about.”
Rao pointed out that Rahul Gandhi – who will be in charge of the Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) — was following the same path as his late father Rajiv Gandhi who too was named a general secretary before he became prime minister after Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984.
The latest development comes amid talk of early parliamentary elections ever since the communists and the Congress got locked in a bitter row over the India-US nuclear deal, casting a shadow on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government.
As general secretary, Rahul Gandhi will rub shoulders with veterans such as two-time former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh, Margaret Alva, V. Narayanaswamy, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and Mohsina Kidwai.
Rahul Gandhi, who represents Amethi in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha and was elected to parliament for the first time in 2004, was also named a member of the Publicity and Publications Committee as well as a new body that would deal with the party’s future challenges.
With Gandhi’s elevation, the Congress now has 11 general secretaries – a corps of men and women who are responsible for the party’s growth by overseeing its various organisations as well as units in states and union territories.
A senior Congress leader indicated to IANS that Rahul Gandhi also might be inducted into the council of ministers shortly.
Among the new faces in the party organisation are a few of the younger MPs, who along with Rahul Gandhi are considered the younger leaders.
Kishore Chandra Deo, MP from Parvathipuram in Andhra Pradesh, has become the general secretary, member of CWC as well as a member of the manifesto committee.
Prithivraj Chauhan, currently a minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), has also been appointed a general secretary and a member of CWC. Congress sources said Chauhan might quit his government post soon.
Others who have been inducted into the leadership are Jyotiraditya Scindia, as a special invitee of CWC, a member of the department of policy planning and coordination (DEPCO) and the group to look into future challenges.
Jitin Prasada, another first time MP from Uttar Pradesh, too has been named a secretary in the party. So have been first time MP from Andhra Pradesh Madhu Goud Yashki and the late Sunil Dutt’s daughter Priya.
Tom Vadakkan, who has looked after the media for a long time, has been formally appointed a party secretary. Former Delhi University student leader Alka Lamba is another secretary, and so is former Orissa chief minister Girdhar Gamang’s wife Hema.
Milind Deora, another friend of Rahul Gandhi, has been appointed a member of DEPCO. And giving Rahul Gandhi company in the future challenges group would be Sachin Pilot and Sadeep Dikshit — from his first-time-MPs club.