Although Rahul Gandhi formally resigned from the post of Congress President on 3rd July, ending speculations for more than a month, he continues to call the shots in the party. This was confirmed when the All India Congress Committee announced the appointment of several office bearers of the party in Maharashtra.
Yesterday the AICC announced the appointment of Balasaheb Thorat as Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee along with 5 working presidents. A press release issued by AICC General Secretary says that the appointments were approved by the “Hon’ble Congress President”.
INC COMMUNIQUE
Hon’ble Congress President has appointed Sri @bb_thorat as President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.
Dr. Nitin Raut
Dr. Baswaraj M. Patil
Sri. Vishvajeet Kadam
Smt. Y.C. Thakur
Sri. Muzaffer Hussain has been appointed as Working President pic.twitter.com/yE5ekkqNwu— INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) July 13, 2019
The party also announced that “Hon’ble Congress President” has approved the appointment of K.C. Padvi as Congress Legislative Party Leader for Maharashtra. The Congress president also made new appointments to several committees in the party in Maharashtra. All those appointments were made yesterday.
INC COMMUNIQUE
Hon’ble Congress President has appointed Sri K.C. Padvi as Congress Legislative Party Leader for Maharashtra. pic.twitter.com/OaS246qvw0
— INC Sandesh (@INCSandesh) July 13, 2019
After the resignation of Rahul Gandhi, there were reports that Motilal Vora will be made the Interim President till the time a full-time President is elected by the party. Although the media had appointed Vora as the interim president, there was no such formal announcement from the party, and Vora himself had said that he has not received any such formal communication from the party.
As the appointments have been made by the “Congress President”, and not by an “Interim President” of the party, this means that the proposals for appointments were approved by Rahul Gandhi only.
It may be noted that although Congress President Rahul Gandhi has resigned from the post, it becomes effective only after it is accepted by the Congress Working Committee, therefore he remains the party president. A senior Congress leader has confirmed the same according to an NDTV report, who has said that Rahul Gandhi remains the party president because the Congress Working Committee is yet to accept his resignation. Although it is almost certain that CWC will have to accept the resignation this time, the apex committee of the party has not met yet to take up the matter. When Rahul Gandhi had announced his resignation for the first time in the month of May, the CWC had rejected the same at that time.
The Congress Working Committee, which is headed by the party president, is likely to meet in the next week to decide the leadership issue. According to reports, the meeting has been delayed due to the ongoing political crisis in Karnataka. When the CWC meets, probably it will formally announce the resignation of Rahul Gandhi, and also decide on an interim president to lead the party during one of the worst periods for the grand old party. Therefore, until the CWC headed by Rahul Gandhi accepts Rahul Gandhi’s resignation formally, Rahul Gandhi remains the president of the Congress party.
