Amid the suspense on whether the Congress will announce its prime ministerial candidate ahead of Lok Sabha elections,the ruling party will hold an All India Congress Committee (AICC) session in New Delhi on January 17. While Congress president Sonia Gandhi had recently said the party would announce the PM candidate at an opportune time,sources said there is no decision yet on projecting Rahul Gandhi as PM candidate at the AICC session. So far,there is no decision. Rahulji has left it to the party to take a call,but the leadership has not decided anything, said a senior AICC functionary. The announcement of the January 17 session was made by party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi and with this,pressure from various quarters within the Congress is likely to build up to formally announce Rahuls candidature. I think the entire Congress party,not just youngsters,are looking forward to the session in January and if there is an announcement.on the PM candidate,we will be very happy.We wish Rahul Gandhi is projected, Congress MP and AICC secretary Priya Dutt said,adding there was a consensus within the party about his leadership. Dutt was responding to questions during the AICC briefing on whether the younger Congress leaders wanted a PM candidate declared,particularly in the face of BJP having declared Narendra Modi its candidate much earlier. In an AICC session in Jaipur last January,Rahul was elevated to party vice-president. The January 17 session a year later comes when the Congress is grappling with anti-incumbency against the UPA,which reflected in the Assembly elections in four states. Both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi have said there would be deep introspection on the the reversals and Rahul had suggested that the party would effect changes beyond imagination. Dutt said while the Congress had not really projected a PM or Chief Ministerial candidate earlier,it was now felt people are looking for that face. She added that after the Jaipur session,Rahul focused on organizational work and never said he wanted to become PM or project himself beyond the party framework. Dutt,MP from Mumbai,said there has always been a subtle projection of Rahul for the top job but not aggressive projection. Dwivedi,meanwhile,said the agenda for the AICC meet would be decided by the Congress Working Committee.
