Reshuffle in Congress highly unlikely till Sonia Gandhi recovers

Speculation of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s elevation, an AICC reshuffle and calling an AICC meeting had stopped after Congress chief Sonia Gandhi fell ill during her roadshow in Varanasi about three weeks ago. “Rahul Gand-hi’s elevation and the AICC reshuffle cannot take place unt-il Sonia Gandhi recovers,” said a senior AICC official.

According to sources, the Congress chief has been advised rest for six weeks. This means status quo in the party could remain till mid-September at least.

Ms Gandhi has been delaying the reshuffle of her team in the organisation after the party’s debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and later defeats in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, De-lhi, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and TN polls.

The only notable change she has made in the organisation is bringing back old hands — Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kamal Nath as AICC general secretaries — and projecting former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in UP.

While Ms Gandhi is still relying on the old guard to run the show, Rahul’s followers in the party are confident that a change of guard can take place “any time”, in the current year itself.