(New Delhi) The main rival of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, was appointed on Saturday to lead the opposition in the next legislature, after legislative elections which mark the end of the crossing of the desert for his Congress party.
“All participants unanimously adopted the resolution that Rahul Gandhi should take up the post of Leader of Opposition in Parliament,” Congress party general secretary K. C. Venugopal said after a meeting of its executive committee.
Gandhi’s nomination as opposition leader, a position that has remained vacant since 2014, will be put to a vote later today by the 232 lawmakers who are members of the opposition alliance led by the Congress party.
Son of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, Mr. Gandhi, 53, was re-elected in a landslide on Tuesday to Parliament in the southern constituency of Wayanad.
His Congress party, the famous formation of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty which has long dominated the country’s political life, lost its power under his leadership and suffered its third electoral defeat against the Hindu nationalist party of Narendra Modi.
The Congress, however, almost doubled its parliamentary seat count (from 52 to 99) in the polls, its best result since Mr Modi came to power a decade ago.
Narendra Modi must be sworn in for a third term as head of the Indian government this weekend, after these legislative elections which deprived his ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of a majority, forcing him to rely on allies and to form a coalition to govern.