Hoardings featuring Robert Vadra outside Congress headquarters

Hoarding, congratulating Sonia Gandhi on becoming the Congress Interim President, with pictures of Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra on it, seen outside party Headquarters. Pic/ANI

New Delhi: Congratulatory posters featuring new interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi have come outside New Delhi, the national capital of India. The posters show son and former party president Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi and her son-in-law Robert Vadra. The poster stated, "Congratulations Sonia Gandhi ji for becoming the interim president of the Congress All India Congress Committee (AICC)."

Earlier this year, posters welcoming Robert Vadra to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections had appeared in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad city. In Rajasthan, ahead of his questioning in connection with a money laundering case, banners featuring Vadra, along with Priyanka and Rahul were put up outside the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) office.

A few months earlier, similar posters had surfaced in New Delhi, the national capital of India with "Kattar Soch Nahi, Yuva Soch" (Not extremist ideology but young thinking) written on it along with images of Rahul, Priyanka and Robert Vadra.

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The 49-year-old businessman is currently under the Enforcement Directorate's scanner for his alleged involvement in various scams and money laundering cases.

After returning as interim Congress President, Sonia Gandhi's priority is to streamline and resolve the infighting reported in the party's units in poll-bound states like Delhi, Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra. As per sources, Gandhi has taken cognisance of the fact that many leaders have quit the party ahead of the polls in these states.

Sonia Gandhi is also aware of the vacant seat of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief after the demise of Sheila Dikshit which has to be filled ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for next year.

Congress' Jharkhand unit has been in a state of disarray since the party suffered a humiliating defeat in the 17th Lok Sabha elections.

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Internal bickering between state PCC chief Ashok Tanwar and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had been brewing within the state unit of the party and escalated following its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. Congress failed to win even a single seat out of a total of ten parliamentary constituencies in Haryana.

The seat-sharing formula in Maharashtra is yet to be discussed. Recently, senior leaders and Rajya Sabha MPs like Bhubaneswar Kalita and Sanjay Singh resigned and joined the BJP due to ambiguity over party's missing leadership.

However, the Congress has always maintained that no crisis is going on within the party after facing defeat in the 17th Lok Sabha elections, but the real picture looks different.

Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from ANI

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