Rahul Gandhi took over the Presidency of Congress Party (Indian National Congress) from his mother Sonia Gandhi after 19 years of her reign. He was the only contestant for the post in the election, hence won unopposed.
After Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, and Sonia Gandhi, he became the sixth member to become the president of Congress from the Nehru family.
The Congress party is the oldest ruling party of free India. The party has led the central government for 49 years.
Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee also known as Umesh Chandra Banerjee was elected as the first president of the first session of the Congress that included 72 other delegates from various provinces and princely states in Mumbai.
George Yule was first non-Indian President, Badruddin Tyabji was first Muslim President and Annie Basent was first woman President of Indian National Congress.
Rash Bihari Ghosh was the president of Congress, when Indian National Congress Split into two groups – The extremists and The moderates.
In the 15 general elections since independence, the Congress has won on six occasions and has led the ruling coalition another four times.
JB Kripalani was the President of Indian National Congress when India won its freedom.
Pattabhi Sitaramayya was the first Congress President to be elected in Independent India.
It is interesting to note that Thirteen Indian Prime Ministers were members of Congress party at some point of time.
Seven (Jawaharlal Nehru, Gulzarilal Nanda, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, P V Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh) were active members at the time of their prime ministerial tenure. And Six (Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, V P Singh, Chandra Sekhar, H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral) had been members of the Congress before their appointment.
List of Presidents of Indian National Congress
- Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee – 1885
- Dadabhai Naoroji – 1886
- Badruddin Tyabji – 1887
- George Yule – 1888
- William Wedderburn – 1889
- Pherozeshah Mehta – 1890
- Anandacharlu – 1891
- Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee – 1892
- Dadabhai Naoroji – 1893
- Alfred Webb – 1894
- Surendranath Banerjee – 1895
- Rahimtulla M. Sayani – 1896
- C. Sankaran Nair – 1897
- Anandamohan Bose – 1898
- Romesh Chunder Dutt – 1899
- N. G. Chandavarkar – 1900
- Dinshaw Edulji Wacha – 1901
- Surendranath Banerjee – 1902
- Lalmohan Ghosh – 1903
- Henry Cotton – 1904
- Gopal Krishna Gokhale – 1905
- Dadabhai Naoroji – 1906
- Rashbihari Ghosh – 1907-08
- Madan Mohan Malaviya – 1909
- William Wedderburn – 1910
- Bishan Narayan Dar – 1911
- Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar – 1912
- Nawab Syed Muhammad Bahadur – 1913
- Bhupendra Nath Bose – 1914
- Lord Satyendra Prasanna Sinha – 1915
- Ambica Charan Mazumdar – 1916
- Annie Besant – 1917
- Madan Mohan Malaviya – 1918
- Syed Hasan Imam – 1918
- Motilal Nehru – 1919
- Lala Lajpat Rai – 1920
- C. Vijayaraghavachariar – 1920
- Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das – 1921-22
- Mohammad Ali Jouhar – 1923
- Abul Kalam Azad – 1923
- Mohandas Gandhi – 1924
- Sarojini Naidu – 1925
- S. Srinivasa Iyengar – 1926
- Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari – 1927
- Motilal Nehru – 1928
- Jawaharlal Nehru – 1929-30
- Vallabhbhai Patel – 1931
- Madan Mohan Malaviya – 1932
- Nellie Sengupta – 1933
- Rajendra Prasad – 1934-35
- Jawaharlal Nehru – 1936-37
- Subhas Chandra Bose – 1938
- Rajendra Prasad replaced Bose after he resigned in 1939
- Abul Kalam Azad – 1940–46
- J. B. Kripalani – 1947
- Pattabhi Sitaraimayya – 1948-49
- Purushottam Das Tandon – 1950
- Jawaharlal Nehru – 1951-54
- U. N. Dhebar – 1955-59
- Indira Gandhi – 1959
- Neelam Sanjiva Reddy – 1960-63
- K. Kamaraj – 1964-67
- S. Nijalingappa – 1968-69
- Jagjivan Ram – 1970-71
- Shankar Dayal Sharma – 1972–74
- Devakanta Barua – 1975–77
- Indira Gandhi – 1978–84
- Rajiv Gandhi – 1985–91
- P. V. Narasimha Rao – 1992–96
- Sitaram Kesri – 1996–98
- Sonia Gandhi – 1998–2017
- Rahul Gandhi – 2017–Present