Congress on Saturday dismissed reports that party president Rahul Gandhi has offered to resign from his post following the party’s debacle in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.
“Reports of Congress president offering resignation are incorrect,” party chief spokesperson Rajdeep Singh Surjewala said even as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting was underway to discuss the Lok Sabha election defeat.
ALSO READ: What were the biggest & lowest margins of victory in 17th LS polls?
Earlier reports suggested that Gandhi had offered to step down and it was rejected by the CWC.
Several senior leaders, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, Motilal Vora, former union ministers RPN Singh, PL Punia and P Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, were present at the meeting.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the general secretary in-charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, was also present in the huddle. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah are also present at the meeting. The CWC, sources said, is taking stock of the party’s loss in Uttar Pradesh, the state which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.
Congress, despite extensive campaigning by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, was decimated to a single seat – Raebareli, represented by Sonia Gandhi – in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi, who was the MP from Amethi since 2004, lost to Union Minister Smriti Irani.
The party put up a poor show in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where it had won the Assembly elections just five months ago.
In the 2014 general election, the Congress had won 44 seats, the lowest score in its history. It has improved its tally marginally by 8 to reach 52 seats in the 2019 polls.
Meanwhile, the chiefs of party units in states like Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha have offered to resign from their post accepting responsibility for Congress’ poor performance.
(With Agency Inputs)