Amid Tussle Over Congress Post, Jyotiraditya Scindia Invokes Sonia Gandhi

Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia — gunning for the party’s top party post in Madhya Pradesh that’s currently held by Chief Minister Kamal Nath – today said it would be party chief Sonia Gandhi who takes the final call on the matter. “Soniaji will take a call on MP Congress Chief. I had a talk with her. High command will take the decision, which would be accepted,” he was quoted as saying by news agency Press Trust of India.
Sonia Gandhi had taken over the post of the party’s interim chief in August, after a three-month crisis following Rahul Gandhi’s resignation from the party chief’s post.
The tussle over the party chief’s post – simmering for months — made headlines after he openly supported the government’s move on Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Scindia — a close associate of Rahul Gandhi – had been waiting for a plum post since the Congress won the assembly elections last year. But despite much buzz, he failed to make it to the post of the Chief Minister, his deputy or even the state party chief. There has been no deputy chief minister post and Kamal Nath continued to head both the government and the faction-ridden party.
Mr Scindia has since been angling for the party’s top job. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election — Rahul Gandhi, who had convinced him to accept Kamal Nath as the Chief Minister — tasked him with rebuilding the party in western Uttar Pradesh.
But the Congress was decimated in the election and suffered a double blow when Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the party’s top post.
Mr Scindia’s renewed push for the party’s top post started after Mr Gandhi, at an internal meeting of the party, made clear his disappointment with Kamal Nath and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for focussing on the election their sons were facing.
Kamal Nath – who offered to step down from the party post during the fervour over Rahul Gandhi’s resignation — has made it clear that he is willing to cooperate with anyone should the party name a new chief in the state.
There have been reports about Mr Scindia’s resentment – especially after the party’s dismal showing in the Lok Sabha elections. Lately, his supporters had put up posters and hoardings, but in the absence of Rahul Gandhi, there was no one at the helm to take a call on the matter.
Yesterday, after Mr Scindia’s meeting with Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, posters calling for his appointment as the party chief mushroomed in state capital Bhopal.