New Congress president to be elected in June after five state polls

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) has decided that there will be a new elected Congress president in June 2021, KC Venugopal told reporters after a meeting of the party's top brass.

A faction of Congress 'rebel' leaders had called for sweeping reforms, introspection and "full-time, visible leadership" of a party that has had Sonia Gandhi as "interim" chief since Rahul Gandhi resigned from the top post following last year's Lok Sabha polls debacle.

The so-called Gandhi loyalists-Ashok Gehlot, Amarinder Singh, AK Antony, Tariq Anwar and Oommen Chandy, have said the Congress president's election should be held after polls in five states including West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

The dates for the election of a Congress president and the CWC will be announced shortly and Sonia Gandhi will take the final decision, media reports said.

The last election to the CWC was held in 1997.

The next president will be chosen at a time the leadership of the Gandhis has come under unprecedented scrutiny and attacks within the party following the Congress's second straight national election defeat.

Sonia Gandhi, 74, has remained the interim party president since her son Rahul Gandhi resigned from the party's top post last year over the Congress's second straight national election defeat.