Rumour mill suggests Priyanaka Gandhi could be the new Congress chief

Consensus has eluded the Congress party in selecting the successor to outgoing president Rahul Gandhi. The latest speculation now revolves around party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. She is also the in-charge for Uttar Pradesh, and several Congress leaders from the state have pushed for her to become the party chief. A few in the party believe that she might take over as the Congress faces difficult Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand. According to party sources, with the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the old guard in the Congress unable to agree on a name, party general secretary Mukul Wasnik continues to be the frontrunner as the interim chief. Meanwhile, Priyanka on Wednesday tweeted a photograph of herself from over two decades back. "Morning puja on the day of my wedding (22 years ago)," she said. While others handle Rahul's Twitter account, and post only after he approves a tweet, Priyanka is known to tweet herself in Hindi and English.

 
‘India’s promise’

Former president Pranab Mukherjee (pictured) will deliver a lecture in New Delhi on ‘Furthering India’s Promise’ on Thursday. The event will mark the first anniversary of the Samruddha Bharat Foundation, which describes itself as an independent socio-political organisation but is ideologically inclined to the Congress party’s worldview. The event will launch the foundation’s monthly lecture series, which aims to engage India’s leading policymakers, academics, and activists “in a dialogue on ways to safeguard and further the constitutional idea of India”. The foundation will also announce the publication of 14 volumes of more than 120 policy-oriented essays, which Penguin Random House will publish, to propose innovation and disruptive ideas.