As Rahul Stays Firm on Decision to Quit, Cong to Meet at 4:30 pm

Gandhi had offered his resignation first during the CWC meeting on Saturday but it was unanimously rejected.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary of Uttar Pradesh East, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, with Congress President Rahul Gandhi during the roadshow, in Lucknow. File picture.

(Photo: PTI)

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had a stream of visitors on Tuesday, 28 May, with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as well as Rajasthan's ruling duo Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot calling on him amid rumblings of discontent in the state and his insistence on quitting following the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha Elections.

The party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and general secretary KC Venugopal also met the party president at his Tughlaq Lane home. It is not immediately clear what transpired at the meetings.

Gandhi is supposed to meet his party leaders once again at 4:30 PM on Tuesday, reported NDTV. There were also reports of a likely second meeting of the grand old party's highest decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), in the next four days.

Gandhi had offered his resignation first during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Saturday, but it was unanimously rejected.

All senior leaders since Saturday have been trying to convince Rahul Gandhi to take back his resignation, but he seems to be adamant about going ahead with his decision to step down as party president.

Faced with a colossal electoral defeat, the Congress has been riven by internal turmoil. As the party grapples with a severe existential crisis, its governments in both Karnataka and Rajasthan teeter on the brink with reports suggesting the BJP may try to wrest power in both states.

The Congress drew a blank in Rajasthan as the NDA won all 25 Lok Sabha seats. In Karnataka, where it formed government with the JD(S) in May last year, the Congress managed to win only one Lok Sabha seat out of 28.

In a Snub, Rahul Declined to meet Gehlot on Monday

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot also reached Rahul's residence, although the Congress president had refused to meet him on Monday, 27 May.

Chiding Gehlot for campaigning in Jodhpur for his son Vaibhav, Gandhi is believed to have said at the CWC meet on Saturday that the chief minister spent days campaigning extensively for his son and neglected the rest of the state.

After Gandhi lashed out at Gehlot, several Rajasthan ministers and MLAs have been demanding that accountability be fixed and action taken for the Lok Sabha poll debacle.

According to some leaders who attended the Congress Working Committee meeting, Gandhi did a lot of "plain-speaking" in his analysis of the roles of several party leaders while himself offering to quit as the party president.

Rahul's Offer to Resign Suicidal: Lalu Prasad Yadav

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad on Tuesday said Congress President Rahul Gandhi's decision to resign will be suicidal – not just for his own party but also for the entire opposition.

"Rahul's offer to resign suicidal. Opposition parties had the common goal to dislodge BJP but failed to build a national narrative. The result in a particular election can never alter the reality in as diverse and plural a country as India," Lalu Prasad, who has been in jail since last year in the Fodder scam case, tweeted.

Congress in Crisis as Resignations Pile up

In the wake of the electoral debacle, the Congress appeared to be in crisis on Monday with resignations of its leaders piling up and the leadership planning to crack the whip.

Congress party chiefs of Jharkhand, Assam and Punjab have also resigned in addition to those from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. Karanataka Pradesh Campaign Committee chairman HK Patil has also resigned.

(With PTI, IANS inputs)