Congress president Rahul Gandhi offered to resign from the post at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday, owning up responsibility for the party's humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
However, the CWC unanimously rejected his offer and asked him to undertake a complete overhaul of the organisation instead.
Addressing the post mortem meeting of the CWC, called in the wake of a second consecutive disappointing show of the party in the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi said as the head of the party, he was responsible for the poll debacle. "I am the head of the party. If we have lost, I should resign. Please look for a new leader," senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, quoting the Congress chief.
Rahul Gandhi's offer to resign was unanimously rejected. Azad said the CWC members told the Congress chief that the party needed his leadership at this crucial juncture. "We told him that he knows the party, its leaders, and the issues through and through. Any other person will take another five years to understand all this" Azad added.
"If anyone can give leadership to the party, it is Rahul Gandhi. If anyone can effectively play the role of an opposition leader, it is Rahul Gandhi," he said.
The CWC passed a resolution, unanimously calling upon Rahul Gandhi to lead the party "in its ideological battle and to champion the cause of India's youth, the farmers, the SC/ST/OBCs, the minorities, the poor and the deprived sections."
It is, however, learnt that Rahul Gandhi is sticking to his stance of resigning from the top post in the party. Officially, though, the party denied it, with Randeep Surjewala, AICC communications in-charge, saying the party's resolution was unequivocal and clear on this issue.
The CWC meeting lasted around four hours and around 30 members, including Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, A.K. Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia, made brief remarks on the just concluded Lok Sabha elections.
The resolution passed at the end of the meeting said the Congress party is committed to don the role of a constructive opposition, raising people's issues and holding the government accountable to the people of India.
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It said the committee recognises the challenges, failures and the shortcomings that led to this mandate. The resolution also recommended a thorough introspection and requested the Congress president for a complete overhaul and a detailed restructuring at every level of the party. A plan to this effect shall come into force at the earliest, it said.
“The Congress party has lost the election but our indomitable courage, our fighting spirit and commitment to our ideology remains stronger than ever. We shall continue its fight against forces that thrive on hatred and division,” the resolution said.
Responding to questions on the reasons behind the party managing to win just 52 seats, Antony disagreed that it was a “disastrous performance”. “We were not able to rise to the expectations of the people,” he said.
Antony, who had authored a post mortem report after the Congress had shrunk to just 44 seats in the Lok Sabha in 2014, said Saturday's meeting was a brief discussion on the various issues involved. “The party will go into the details and come out with our conclusion. You cannot reach a conclusion in a few hours,” he said about the deliberations.
