New Delhi: There is a move to keep Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. This is a complete reversal of the declared position of the Congress that one person has one privilege. Kharge resigned as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha ahead of contesting for the post of Congress president, but the party is yet to appoint a replacement. One privilege per person was one of the key moves to revive the Congress. If the Congress decides to retain Kharge as Leader of the Opposition, it will be a complete departure from the ‘one person, one position’ policy.
Congress Parliamentary Party’s ‘Strategy Group’ meeting has been convened by Sonia Gandhi on Saturday. NDTV reports that only KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh from the Rajya Sabha have been invited to this meeting.
P. Chidambaram and Digvijay Singh, who are frontrunners to replace Kharge as Leader of the Opposition, were not invited to the meeting. Although Kharge has resigned from the post, party sources say that Kharge will continue as the Leader of Opposition in the winter session of Parliament.
At the same time, Congress sources say that there will be major changes in the parliamentary party after the winter session. Apart from Kharge, some other top leaders are still in the two positions.
Congress Parliamentary Party Leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary is also the party’s president in West Bengal. Jairam Ramesh, who is the chief whip of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, also holds the position of chief spokesperson of the party.
While Rahul Gandhi reiterated that the Congress will stick to the policy taken at the Udaipur Chintan camp in February, senior leaders remain in various capacities.
It is reported that the decision in Kharge’s case is delayed due to some unexpected moves. The Congress leadership was under the impression that Ashok Gehlot would take over as party president. But some unexpected moves at the last stage brought things to Kharge.