Rahul Insists On Resigning As Cong Chief, Party Rejects Offer

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi on Saturday insisted on resigning from the party president’s post over the Congress’s dismal show in the Lok Sabha elections but the party “unanimously and in one word” rejected the idea, NDTV reported.

“We need Rahul Gandhi to guide us in these challenging times,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told reporters after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee.

The Congress won just eight seats more than the 44 it had in 2014. The party stuck to the template as it responded to Rahul Gandhi’s mea culpa in a four-hour post-mortem by the party’s top decision-making body.

Party leaders praised the 48-year-old and authorised him to go for a complete overhaul of the party.

The Congress suffered a washout in 17 states and union territories in these elections and couldn’t do any better even in the three heartland states it had won in December – the party won two seats in Chhattisgarh, one in Madhya Pradesh and none in Rajasthan. Its tally is not enough to qualify it for the post of Leader of Opposition.

Even Priyanka Gandhi’s launch into the Uttar Pradesh battle couldn’t salvage the Congress, which has always seen the younger Gandhi sibling as its ultimate weapon. Despite her aggressive campaign in UP and her direct attacks at the PM, the Congress ended up with just one seat in Uttar Pradesh — that of Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli. Rahul Gandhi lost even in his traditional Amethi seat to the BJP’s Smriti Irani.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP and its allies, meanwhile, won a spectacular mandate of over 350 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha.

Rahul had on Thursday told reporters he accepted “100 per cent” responsibility for the debacle. Asked whether he would resign, the Congress chief said: “Let that be between me and the Working Committee.”

In 2014, then Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who led the campaign as party vice president – had both offered to quit but the party rejected the offer and assumed “collective responsibility”. This time the murmurs against the leadership are louder.

Three state chiefs of the party have already sent their resignations.