Sonia Gandhi selected as 'interim' Congress president; party deliberations cut short

New Delhi: After deliberations by the Working Committe of India's Congress party, the party leaders announced on Saturday that Sonia Gandhi would be the 'interim' Congress president. The meeting was held to decide on who Rahul Gandhi's successor would be; he had resigned as Congress president when the party lost their Amethi stronghold in the general assembly elections in May.

Congress leader PL Punia reportedly said that a full-time president would be chosen after the party's internal elections. The meeting was cut short, former party president Rahul Gandhi told media on Saturday night in the capital, owing to reports of violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

While Rahul Gandhi secured an assembly seat standing from Vayanad in Kerala, he lost to BJP's Smriti Irani in Amethi - a stronghold that Congress had held for decades. Rahul himself had won from the constituency three times before this year's crippling defeat.

The decision to select Sonia Gandhi also marks the continued failure of the party to pick a chief outside the Gandhi family; the dynasty has led it for most of its 130-year-old history.