Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, said he would work to transform the country after he was elevated on Saturday to the governing Congress party’s No. 2 post.
Gandhi, a 42-year-old lawmaker, was appointed the party vice president, a position behind his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who is the Congress party president, spokesman Janardhan Dwivedi told reporters.
The elevation positions him to lead the party, which his family has long dominated, in parliamentary elections next year. He is expected to be the party’s candidate for the post of prime minister in elections due early next year.
“This decision will greatly strengthen the party,” Dwivedi said in a statement after a meeting of the party’s top policymaking body in the western Indian city of Jaipur.
Rahul Gandhi in his acceptance speech said he had acquired “great experience” over the past eight years while working for the party organization, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.
“I have seen it is a great organization and together we will transform the country,” PTI quoted him as telling his cheering supporters at the party meeting.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a technocrat, was chosen to fill the post in 2004 by Sonia Gandhi. Singh was widely seen as a regent, keeping the seat warm until Rahul Gandhi — the son, grandson and great-grandson of Indian prime ministers — was ready to take what some see as his birthright.
However, he displayed little public sign that he is undergoing any sort of apprenticeship that would prepare him for running the country and he has never held a Cabinet-level position.
Party workers have been demanding Rahul Gandhi’s elevation for years, but he had been shying away from holding a top position in the party. His supporters argued he was rebuilding the party at the grassroots level and has taken a lead in the Congress’ campaigns in state elections in Uttar Pradesh and in Bihar in recent years. The party performed poorly in both states’ elections last year.
Rahul Gandhi entered politics in 2004 and became a lawmaker by winning the Amethi seat in northern Uttar Pradesh state. The parliamentary seat was held by his mother until she shifted to a neighboring constituency.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
RSS