Rahul Gandhi insists on resigning, Congress considers panel to run party

Congress chief refused to meet MPs who wanted to persuade him to retain post

With Congress President Rahul Gandhi continuing to insist on quitting as party chief, senior party leadership is considering a couple of alternatives, including a presidium of leaders running the party’s day-to-day affairs. Sources said the Congress constitution does not provide for a presidium. The Congress would need to call its plenary session to amend the constitution.

According to the sources, Rahul on Monday refused to meet a delegation of MPs, who had hoped to persuade him to change his decision. Rahul had announced his decision to quit at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Saturday.

Rahul met senior party leaders Ahmed Patel and K C Venugopal and conveyed to them that the party should elect a non-Gandhi family individual as its leader. Party sources said Rahul wants to focus on travelling the country, raising peoples’ issues inside as well as outside Parliament in the near future.

Sources said a non-Gandhi family successor to Rahul could deepen the crisis since the party leadership was unlikely to reach a consensus on one single name. However, a section of the party believes constituting a presidium of leaders, comprising a mix of the young and the old, could be the way forward. In a press statement, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala requested “everyone, including the media, to not fall into the trap of conjectures or speculations and await the calibrated efforts by the Congress party towards future course of action.” Surjewala appealed to all, including the media, to “respect the sanctity of a closed door meeting of the CWC.” “Various conjectures, speculations, insinuations, assumptions, gossip and rumour mongering in a section of the media is uncalled for and unwarranted,” he said.

Resignations of state Congress chiefs continued on Monday. Punjab, Jharkhand Congress unit chiefs Sunil Jakhar and Ajoy Kumar quit their posts on Monday. 

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also met Venugopal and Patel.

In a reference to Rahul Gandhi as well as his reported comments about some of the leaders being more interested in furthering the careers of their respective sons, Surjewala said the CWC held a collective deliberation on the performance of the party, the challenges before it as also the way ahead, instead of casting aspersions on the role or conduct of any specific individual.

Resignations of state Congress chiefs continued on Monday. Punjab and Jharkhand Congress unit chiefs Sunil Jakhar and Ajoy Kumar quit their posts on Monday. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also met Venugopal and Patel.

While Rahul Gandhi did not meet a delegation of MPs, he tweeted on Monday morning remembering the country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, on his death anniversary. He also attended a prayer meeting in Nehru's memory.