Bhupesh Baghel said he believes Rahul Gandhi should take charge as Congress chief. (File)
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has pitched for Rahul Gandhi once again taking charge as Congress president, even as he asserted that the party follows a democratic process and anyone willing to contest for the post is free to do so.
Sonia Gandhi is currently the interim president of the Congress. She assumed the charge after Rahul Gandhi resigned from the position after the party suffered its second consecutive defeat in parliamentary elections in 2019.
"The dates for the Congress organisational elections have been announced and those who want to contest are free to file nomination. I believe that Rahul Gandhi should take charge as Congress chief," Mr Baghel told PTI in an interview.
His remarks come as the Group of 23 leaders has called for a revamp of the party organisation. The demands for change in the Congress have increased in the wake of the party's poor performance in the recently held assembly elections.
The party had lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party by a big margin.
Speaking about the debacle in the recent assembly elections, Mr Baghel said, "Elections come and go, we shouldn't be disheartened by it. We should move ahead." Last month, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) decided Sonia Gandhi would continue to lead the party until the election for the post of Congress president is held.
Sonia Gandhi had also said she was ready "to make every sacrifice" in the interest of the party.
While reposing full faith in her leadership, the CWC urged her to effect immediate corrective changes to strengthen the party and meet the political challenges ahead of the next round of elections.
With the Congress organisational polls being underway, the party would have a new party president between August 21 and September 20 this year and thereafter, elections to the CWC would be held by October at the All India Congress Committee Plenary session.
Sonia Gandhi who took over the reins of the party again as interim president had also offered to quit in August 2020 after an open revolt by a section of leaders, referred to as G-23, but then too the CWC had urged her to continue.
In August 2020, twenty-three senior Congress leaders had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting immediate and active leadership and an organisational reshuffle.
In the letter, they sought an overhaul within the party in view of frequent failures in Lok Sabha and state elections. The leaders' demand intensified over time and senior party leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal, continued to defy the party's stand on several occasions.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)