Indian opposition seeks to broadcast images of dynastic rule WGN Radio 720
NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, is set to elect a non-family member as its next president as it struggles to recover ahead of upcoming major elections.
Although historically headed by the powerful Nehru Gandhi family, Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi have emerged as new leaders in a difficult time for a party that has suffered heavy losses in national and state elections since becoming prime minister. Decided to bring the face. A Hindu nationalist party led by Narendra Modi came to power in 2014.
Their choice fell to their trusted party leader, Malikaljun Kalge, an 80-year-old from southern Karnataka.
Kaji, a member of parliament and former Minister of Railways, Labor and Employment, applied for the nomination at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi on Friday. He will be challenged by 66-year-old Shashi Thalor, who has been on the rise at the United Nations for nearly 30 years before joining the Parliamentary Party in 2009.
If both Kage and Thalor remain in the race after the 8 October deadline for candidate nominations, 9,000 party delegates will vote on 17 October and the results will be announced on 19 October.
The submission of the nomination is a big step towards ending the party’s struggle to find a successor after the disastrous results in the 2019 national elections and Rahul’s subsequent resignation.
“I have tried to persuade Rahul Gandhi to accept a party member’s wish to become president, but he is adamant in his position that none of the Gandhi family will participate in this race.
Rahul’s family has produced three of India’s 15 prime ministers since independence, starting with his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru as the country’s first prime minister. Two of his were assassinated, his grandmother Indira Gandhi and his father Rajiv Gandhi. This party ruled India for over 60 years after India’s independence from British colonialists in 1947.
Modi, the current prime minister, has condemned parliamentary dynastic politics. While the party has been led by non-family members in the past, Sonia and Rahul have been at the helm of party affairs since 1998.
“The party leader is an important post, but it has lost two general elections and has 18% of the vote, half of the ruling Hindu nationalist party,” said Mahesh Rangarajan, a professor of history and environmental studies. University. “But this is the single biggest opposition party with a history of resurgence as well as he did in 1980, 1991 and 2004.”
“The focus is on who is, but the crisis is as important as the idea.
Critics have described the departure of key leaders from the parliamentary party, including veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad, who announced his own party in September, as a rebellion against the rule of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
In his resignation letter to Sonia, who is acting as interim party leader, Azad said that “the whole consultation mechanism was destroyed when Rahul Gandhi took office as parliamentary vice-president in 2013.”
He lamented that “all the senior and experienced leaders were pushed aside and an inexperienced and chatty new fellow began to run the affairs of the party.”
Rahul will drive 3,500 kilometers (2,185 miles) of Indian cities, towns and villages over the next five months to revitalize his party and win public support ahead of two important state legislative elections in Himachal Pradesh. ) taking a walking tour. Gujarat, home of Prime Minister Modi. The result could affect the next national election scheduled for 2024.
https://wgnradio.com/news/ap-indian-opposition-party-seeks-to-shed-dynastic-rule-image/ Indian opposition seeks to broadcast images of dynastic rule WGN Radio 720