History
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 the Legislative Party.
Indira Gandhi however, institutionalised the practice of having the same person as the President and the Prime Minister after the first Congress 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 posts. Sitaram 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.
Read more about this topic: President Of The Indian National Congress
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We said that the history of mankind depicts man; in the same way one can maintain that the history of science is science itself.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If you look at the 150 years of modern China’s history since the Opium Wars, then you can’t avoid the conclusion that the last 15 years are the best 15 years in China’s modern history.”
—J. Stapleton Roy (b. 1935)