Amid growing demands for him to continue at the helm of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday called on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar and discussed the current political situation with him. The meeting took place at Pawar's residence in Delhi and the details of the discussion were not immediately available.
However, citing sources, Zee News reported that the two leaders discussed the possibility of a merger of both the Congress and the NCP. The NCP was formed in 1999 by Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar who were expelled from the grand old party after they had questioned Sonia Gandhi's credibility to lead the party. However, the NCP remained a part of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Rahul's meeting with Pawar came in the backdrop of the big debacle both the Congress and the NCP suffered in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The Congress won 52 seats and is two short of getting the post of Leader of Opposition in Parliament. The NCP has bagged five seats.
Rahul has been insisting on resigning as the Congress president, taking responsibility of the poor show of the party in the elections. However, he is being persuaded to continue in the post by leaders of his own party as well as other parties in the opposition. It is learnt that the NCP chief also told him to continue as the party chief.
