Rahul Gandhi won’t abandon Congress but firm to quit as its chief, reports say 

Rahul Gandhi.

New Delhi: After Congress president Rahul Gandhi told the party that he wants to quit as its chief over the party’s abysmal performance in the Lok Sabha election, it fuelled speculations on the future of the party and its leadership.

Media quoted sources close to Gandhi saying the Congress president is “not abandoning the post” even though he is determined to quit. He will give the party time to choose a new person for the top job.

At the Congress Working Committee, which met to discuss the party’s disastrous performance, Gandhi blamed the senior Congress leaders, like Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath and P Chidambaram, without taking their names, for pushing their sons to get elected and neglecting the party in their respective states, which led to the rout of the Congress. Gandhi said he was not in favour of giving them tickets.

However, Gandhi had said he took “100 per cent” responsibility for the party’s failure and that he would like to exit as its top boss. He also said, “It is not necessary that the president should be from Gandhi family.”

Media also reported that when Jyotiraditya Scindia said the party fared poorly in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhi snapped and asked him if he wasn’t a leader in the state.

Although, his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tried to get him to change his mind but later acknowledged that the Congress “has to come to terms with the fact that there has to be a change of guard.”

A senior Congress leader said, “Priyanka Gandhi also stressed that the party president alone cannot be held responsible for what happened. She said all of us sitting in this room are responsible. “Can I say I am not responsible for the poor result in Uttar Pradesh? No I can’t. But I will go back to UP and work harder”. She asked Gandhi not to press for his resignation but the matter was “definitely not resolved”.

Amid this, on Monday, Gandhi paid tribute to former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in a tweet, to mark his death anniversary.

Gandhi said, “Many democratic nations as young as India, soon degenerated into dictatorships. On his death anniversary, let us remember Jawaharlal Nehru Ji's contribution in building strong, independent, modern institutions that have helped democracy survive in India for over 70 years.”

Many democratic nations as young as India, soon degenerated into dictatorships.

On his death anniversary, let us remember Jawaharlal Nehru Ji’s contribution in building strong, independent, modern institutions, that have helped democracy survive in India for over 70 years 🇮🇳

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 27, 2019

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