Cong MPs seen requesting Rahul Gandhi in LS to become party president

Several Congress Lok Sabha MPs were on Friday seen urging the party's former president Rahul Gandhi to take back its stewardship to galvanise cadres of the grand old party in the current political scenario, sources said.

The request was made as soon as the house was adjourned at 12:35 pm for ten minutes as Congress MPs were demanding a debate on the Delhi riots.

Party members including Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor gathered at Gandhi's seat in the second row of the opposition benches and were seen having an animated discussion with him over the party's current status.

Though the house was adjourned, from the press gallery it was seen and heard that Tewari strongly and emphatically appealed to the Gandhi-scion to come back at the helm of the Congress.

Rahul had relinquished the post of Congress party president after the debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which the party could manage to get only 52 seats, just eight more than its tally of 44 seats in the previous general polls in 2014.

The Congress-led UPA was in power at the Centre for two terms from 2004 to 2014.

Tewari was seen joined by other MPs including first timers like Hibi Eden and Jothimani, who were patiently listening to the conversation. Nearly ten MPs were engaged in the conversation with Rahul.

Responding to their requests, Rahul is understood to have told them that as party president he took the moral responsibility for the Congress' defeat and there was no change to that position, sources said.

He is also believed to have told the party MPs to fight against the BJP and its associates.

In recent times many Congress leaders have talked about clarity on the party's leadership and finding a new president.

Last month, the party's former MP and son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Sandeep Dikshit, had reportedly said Sonia Gandhi was an interim president and Rahul Gandhi didn't want to be president, so party members should respect his position and carry on.

Echoing similar sentiments, Tharoor had told PTI recently that resolving the leadership issue is key for Congress' revival.

Another party leader Jairam Ramesh had suggested that the party should "ruthlessly reinvent" itself or face the prospect of becoming irrelevant and that its arrogance has to go.

Senior leader Veerappa Moily too called for a "surgical action" to revive the party in the context of the Delhi election drubbing.

In the Delhi assembly elections held last month, the Congress failed to open its account in the state which it ruled continuously for 15 years from 1998 to 2013.