File Photo of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi
Congress President Sonia Gandhi is expected to be re- elected as the Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) at its first meeting in New Delhi on May 24 after the 16th Lok Sabha polls which saw the party's strength in the House nose-dive to a dismal 44 from 206 in 2009.
The meeting of the CPP general body is being held ahead of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government taking over on May 26.
The Congress has closed its ranks behind the Gandhis, to lead them in these "tough and trying times" for the party.
The CPP Chairperson would nominate the leaders of the party in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha at a time when there is still a question mark over whether Congress will get the Leader of Opposition post in the Lower House after failing to win the requisite number of 55 seats.
Although Kamal Nath's name is doing the rounds for the post of 'Leader of the Opposition' in Lok Sabha, a party general secretary insisted that the consensus is possible only on the name of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Earlier, some leaders had indicated that Mrs Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi are both averse to taking up the post of 'Leader of the Opposition' in Lok Sabha.
That would brighten the chances of Kamal Nath, the senior- most Congress MP, becoming leader of the Congress Party in the House.
The party on Wednesday, had said that there was "absolutely no legal bar" for it to get the post of the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha despite falling short of the requisite number.
The CPP meet will follow the meeting of the Congress Working Committee, which took place on May 19. During the CWC meet, both Sonia and Rahul had offered to resign from their party posts, however that was rejected unanimously by other Congress leaders.