- Congress President
The President of the
All India Congress Committee , and therefore of theIndian National Congress Party (INC) as a whole, is known as the Congress President.Traditionally, the post rotated between prominent members of the party, successive terms for the same person being frowned upon.
During
Nehru 's premiership, he rarely held the Presidency of INC, even though he was always head of theLegislative Party .Indira Gandhi however, institutionalised the practice of having the same person as the President as the Prime Minister after the firstCongress split of 1969.Her son
Rajiv Gandhi continued that practice. He was the INC President and the Prime Minister.Narasimha Rao , too held both the Congress President and the Prime Minister's postSitaram Kesri held the post after INC was voted out. But as the INC never returned to power under his leadership, he didn't hold the two posts together.In 2004, when the INC was voted back Dr Manmohan Singh became the first INC Prime Minister, not to be the INC President since the practice began.
Sonia Gandhi is the current Congress President, but not Prime Minister.
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