Sonia Gandhi Back As Congress Chief For Now After 12-Hour Meet

NEW DELHI  :    Sonia Gandhi will return as Congress president for now, two years after she handed the top job to her son Rahul Gandhi, the party's top decision-making body, the Working Committee, decided on Saturday after a 12-hour meeting. Pitching it as a stop-gap measure, the party said it will pick a new president when its plenary session is held later this year. Rahul Gandhi had quit the party's top post in May after its disastrous performance in the Lok Sabha election and subsequently refused the party's requests to withdraw his resignation. On Saturday morning, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had excused themselves from group meetings held to decide on a new chief, saying they cannot be part of the selection process. Despite Rahul Gandhi's insistence, the party failed to come up with a non-Gandhi alternative.                                       [Agencies]