Rahul keen to give time to party to find 'suitable alternative'
New Delhi, May 27 (UNI): Braving with the crisis in party resulted by the massive defeat in Lok Sabha polls, key Congress leaders held a closed-door meeting with the party president here today even as Rahul Gandhi reportedly insisted that he should opt out from the top post.
Senior leaders Ahmed Patel, also known for his proximity to Sonia Gandhi, and K.C. Venugopal, party's organisational general secretary met Mr Gandhi at his residence and took stock of the situation.
Sources said the Congress party and top leaders had no confusion in their mind that Mr Gandhi should continue to steward the grand old party, which has seen many ups and downs in terms of electoral performance.
However, Mr Gandhi insisted that there should be a change and he is "ready to give time to the party leaders", to find a "suitable alternative" who could be "not from his family", but has enough experience and the leadership quality to run the party in this challenging time.
The fact that the election results have upset the leadership can be understood as since May 23, Mr Gandhi has so far not met the newly elected MPs.
Sources said, most party leaders wanted to abide by the Congress Working Committee decision on Saturday, that had "unanimously rejected" Mr Gandhi's offer of resignation and said on the contrary, the Congress president has been given a free hand to make all necessary and radical changes to restructure the party.
In the fiercely-contested elections, the Congress party could win only 52 seats as compared to BJP's 303 and it is for the second time the grand old party could not put up an impressive show under the leadership of Mr Gandhi.
In 2014, the Congress tally was only 44, and Mr Gandhi was then the party vice-president, but was given free hand by his mother and then Congress president Sonia Gandhi to run the party.
More than the central level, the crisis for Congress seems to be deepening in states as so far six Pradesh Congress chiefs have put in their papers taking the moral responsibility for the party's poor show.
Among those, who resigned are state unit presidents of UP (Raj Babbar), Punjab (Sunil Jakhar), Assam (Ripun Bora), Jharkhand (Ajoy Roy), Odisha (Nirajan Patnaik) and Maharashtra (Ashok Chavan).
In Karnataka, campaign committee chairman H.K. Patil and Yogendra Mishra, president of district Congress Committee- Amethi, where Mr Gandhi suffered setback, also have tendered their resignations.
Several Congress in Delhi sought to downplay the crisis, saying most of the things as being heard are mere speculation in media and the party does not see the given situation as a major crisis.
Even AICC Communication in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala put out a statement on Monday and said the "reports are based on speculations and rumours which is uncalled for and unwarranted".
Media reports have also said that at the CWC meeting Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was quiet emotional and defending her brother's role during the election campaign and maintained that not many senior leader were by his side when the going was tough.
Sources said Mr Gandhi for his part also complained without taking names that a few senior leaders apparently were more concerned for their off-springs and could not do justice to the cause of the party.
There is an apprehension in certain quarter that if Mr Gandhi gives up the top slot, there would be more disgruntlement among the rank and file which may lead to an organisational split.
Image credit: UNI
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