Rahul Gandhi offered to resign as Congress Prez, CWC rejected
NEW DELHI : Top Congress leaders from across the country got together to review the party’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, as the Congress Working Committee meeting got underway in New Delhi. According to sources, Rahul Gandhi offered to resign at the meeting. However, Randeep Surjewala dismissed the “rumors” and said the information is false.
The CWC meeting, chaired by the Congress president, was attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Uttar Pradesh (East) in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and chief ministers of four party-ruled states — Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh — and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
According to top sources in AICC Rahul Gandhi is firm on resigning as Congress president over the party’s appalling performance in the election even after his offer was unanimously rejected at a meeting on Saturday by top leaders, who spoke once again of “thorough introspection”, resorting to a refrain that has enabled much mockery of it in the past.
The Congress could manage to add only a few seats to its 2014 tally of 44 seats. In Uttar Pradesh, only Sonia Gandhi won the Raebareli seat, while Gandhi lost the family bastion of Amethi to Smriti Irani.
Rahul Gandhi, 48, told the Congress Working Committee, which consists of 52 members, that he would like to exit as its top boss nearly a year and a half after he took the job from his mother Sonia Gandhi, who was seated next to him at the meeting that ran four hours.
“We have to continue our fight. I am and will remain a disciplined soldier of the Congress and continue to fight fearlessly. But I do not want to remain the party president,” Mr Gandhi reportedly said.
Rahul Gandhi today addressed top Congress leaders at a post-mortem of a national election debacle which, many say, exposes an existential crisis for the grand old party.
Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra – Rahul Gandhi’s sister – reportedly joined other leaders in trying to talk him out of his decision but finally said that his personal wish should be respected. Priyanka Gandhi reportedly asked her brother to give the party some time for an alternative plan.
Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also asked him to reconsider, say sources.Mr Gandhi reportedly made it clear that he would not “vanish” and would continue to work for the party, but that he would not budge on his decision.
“If not you, then who,” Congress leaders reportedly protested. When Priyanka Gandhi’s name came up, Mr Gandhi reportedly said: “Don’t drag my sister into it.”He added: “It is not necessary that the president should be from Gandhi family.”During the high-level meeting, Rahul Gandhi insisted that he should resign as party president, but it was unanimously rejected, sources say
The Congress said it “needs him”, spokespersons and representatives said at a briefing that began nearly 45 minutes late because of the back-and-forth.When the meeting ended, Mr Gandhi left without a word to the media; he was tellingly not present at the press conference that was addressed by several Congress leaders.
Mr Gandhi’s resolve presents a huge dilemma for the Congress, which has rarely looked beyond the Nehru-Gandhi family for leadership, against all reason.
The Congress held its post-mortem three days after its net worth in the general election hit 52 seats, just eight up from 2014, which was its worst-ever result. Mr Gandhi, at a press conference that evening, was asked by a reporter what sort of responsibility he assumes for the loss. “100%”, he replied.
The complete and total collapse of the appeal of the Congress was exemplified by Mr Gandhi’s defeat in Amethi, the constituency that has been held by his family for four decades and which elected Mr Gandhi for three terms to parliament.
Congress leaders praised Rahul Gandhi and gave him authority to reorganise the party. Mr Gandhi will remain an MP on account of his victory from Wayanad, the constituency he contested from Kerala.
Though senior Congress leaders have privately admitted these shortcomings helped create a political sinkhole, on record today, the Working Committee said it had authorized Mr Gandhi to overhaul the party.(With Agency Inputs ).
