Sonia: Cautious

New Delhi, Jan. 3: Congress president Sonia Gandhi is believed to be keen that son Rahul is elected to the party organisation rather than nominated, but “time constraint” may come in her way.

Rahul, an MP, is tipped to make his debut in the organisation as a member of the Congress Working Committee, which is likely to be reconstituted before or during the AICC’s Hyderabad plenary starting January 21.

Priyanka Gandhi has been invited to the plenary.

According to the Congress constitution, of the 24 CWC members, half are nominated and the rest elected. However, for logistical and political reasons, the election process over the years has been bypassed.

Former Congress chief P.V. Narasimha Rao had tried to infuse a “sense of democracy” by holding polls to 12 posts. But it created bad blood and forced him to dissolve the committee and nominate the members. The norm has remained unbroken since.

However, Congress sources said Sonia wanted to bring back the practice to give a “stamp of legitimacy” to her son’s entry into the CWC. Although Rahul’s debut as a nominated member will hardly raise eyebrows, “an election gives the extra edge”, the sources added.

But party “heavyweights” feel if Rahul wins ? and there is no doubt that he will with a huge majority ? it would establish his position as the first among equals and undermine the “aspirations” of those who fancy themselves as his political “gurus”.

Second, it is not about Rahul alone. The election, the sources pointed out, is contested on the lines of Assembly polls where factors like caste and region are important. A “lightweight” with the right caste antecedents could make it while a “heavyweight” with no roots may be pipped to the post.

This was what had apparently happened when Rao held elections at the Tirupati plenary in 1992. Four Brahmins were elected, triggering a whisper campaign about the Congress being “anti-OBC”.

Those arguing against the election this year have cited the 1992 instance, saying the Congress chief should nominate all members to keep the party’s “truly representative” character in place. “Every principle, including 33 per cent reservation for women, can be enforced properly,” a source said.

Sources said to give the exercise a semblance of democracy, Sonia could move a resolution at the Hyderabad plenary to hold an election to the CWC. The move would lead party members to chorus “nomination”, with the loudest cry being for Rahul.

The sources said this would take care of the “imperatives of democracy and transparency”.