Sharad Pawar may replace Sonia Gandhi as UPA Chairperson after Rahul refuses: Sources

NCP reacts:

"There are unsubstantiated reports in media regarding NCP National President Sharad Pawar taking over as chairperson of UPA. Nationalist Congress party would like to clarify that there is no discussion within UPA partners regarding any such proposal," said Mahesh Tapase, NCP Chief Spokesperson 

In a massive development amid infighting within the Congress regarding the top leadership, sources have said that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar will replace Sonia Gandhi as UPA (United Progressive Alliance) chairperson soon.

Sources also said that initial talks have already happened in this regard. After the poll debacle in Bihar assembly elections, and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal polls, many top leaders demanded answers from party's high command and some also wanted the return of Rahul Gandhi as party chief. However, while Rahul Gandhi has apparently refused to re-take the post of Congress president, sources have also added that he has refused to succeed his mother as UPA Chairperson as well.

In such a scenario, as per sources, Rahul Gandhi will be the face of the UPA but Sharad Pawar will be the chairman of UPA, being its senior-most leader. Pawar's NCP and Congress party had earlier stitched an alliance in Maharashtra and even after losing the assembly polls, are currently ruling the state after Shiv Sena joined them to form Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Recently, when the Opposition leaders met the President of India to discuss the ongoing farmers' protest, Sharad Pawar led the delegation, despite the presence of former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. It is important to note that Sharad Pawar was among those who resigned in 1991, citing Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin.

Sonia Gandhi in politics

Notably, Sonia Gandhi has been the UPA chairperson since 2004, when the Congress formed a government with a other left-parties after the election that year under the Prime Ministership of Dr Manmohan Singh. The alliance's current members include the Congress, the DMK, RJD, IUML, JKNC, JMM, MDMK, RSP, VCK and AIUDF.

Though she was reluctant to join politics and had earlier attemted to persuaded her husband Rajiv Gandhi to not join politics, she officially took charge of the Congress party in 1998 and was elected to parliament 1999 election. A year after, in the 1999 general elections, Congress faced its worst performance since independence. However, in 2004, under her leadership, UPA won the parliamentary elections and Sonia Gandhi became the UPA chairperson. In a huge surprise, she turned down the offer to become the Prime Minister and Congress' Manmohan Singh was chosen as the PM. However, Opposition claimed that she was the de-facto leader as the National Advisory Council (NAC) of India was set up by the UPA, to advise the Prime Minister of India, and Sonia Gandhi led it. 

While during her initial years, Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma, Tariq Anwar opposed her leadership in UPA because of her foreign origin, she was chllenged for the top post by Jitendra Prasada in 2001. In 2017, Sonia Gandhi retired from the post of Congress chief but held on to the post of UPA chairperson. Rahul Gandhi was then elected to the post unopposed. However, Rahul resigned owning to 2019 poll debacle of Congress and since then leadership vaccum at the top has haunted the Congress party. 

Sonia Gandhi came back at the top post of Congress after Rahul Gandhi denied taking up the post and the party was unable to decide on a new Gandhi or a non-Gandhi name. Moreover, the dissent within the party came out in open when 23 senior leaders sought 'structural changes', internal election to the CWC even at state levels, the formation of an Independent Election Authority, and institutional leadership mechanism, full-time leadership at the helm and wrote to Sonia Gandhi, inviting Rahul's ire. Quashing all internal dissent, after a stormy Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, the grand-old party retained Sonia Gandhi as party chief till elections are called for in the next AICC meeting. Moreover, it passed a resolution strengthening the Gandhis' leadership and not allowing anyone to undermine the party or the Gandhis (Rahul and Sonia). 

Moreover, Sonia Gandhi has also faced questions from UPA partners in the state. For instance, in Bihar, RJD became the single largest party but Congress' poor performance pulled the alliance down. Similarly, ahead of DDC polls in J&K, while Central Congress leaderhsip extended support to Gupkar alliance, state unit maintained distance and pulled back after facing BJP's criticism.