T'gana Cong leaders hold fast urging Rahul not to resign

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) general secretary Bollu Kishan and former MP V Hanumantha Rao observed a day-long fast here Thursday, urging Rahul Gandhi to continue as party president.

The fast was held in the premises of Gandhi Bhavan, Congress headquarters in Telangana.

Speaking at the end of the fast, TPCC president and MP-elect N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the party needed the leadership of Gandhi at this crucial juncture.

"...The well-wishers and sympathisers of Congress party would be about one crore in Telangana. Through this fast, all of us are making only one appeal, in one voice, to Rahul Gandhi ji. Your leadership is needed to the country and party at this crucial juncture," Reddy told the gathering.

Though it was a fact that Congress lost in the Lok Sabha polls, there were many reasons for it, he said.

The TPCC President alleged BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the elections by taking up nationalism as their agenda and not talking about issues of employment, agriculture and economy.

Amid reports that Gandhi is insisting on stepping down from his post in the wake of Congress' rout in the Lok Sabha polls, the TPCC has been requesting him for the past few days, to continue to lead the party.

The activists of NSUI, students wing of the party, held a demonstration Wednesday, urging Gandhi to continue in the post.