New Delhi: Quite on expected lines, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held here to brainstorm the party’s dismal performance in 2019 polls rejected party president Rahul Gandhi’s offer to step down from the helm of affairs.
Gandhi offered to resign from the presidentship of the party owning moral responsibility for its electoral debacle in the recently concluded general elections.
Apart from the electoral debacle, the party has a tough task at hand to keep its flock together in states like Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, where efforts were on to destabilise the government. This apart, the party is also likely to discuss upcoming Assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, a source said.
The CWC meeting, chaired by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, is being attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Uttar Pradesh (East) in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge along with chief ministers of three party-ruled states — Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh — and of the Union Territory Puducherry.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, however, was conspicuous by his abscence from the meeting.
Interestingly, out of the 23 CWC members, only four won in the just concluded elections — party chief Rahul Gandhi, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Gaurav Gogoi and A. Chella Kumar.
Heads have already started rolling after the party managed to win only 52 seats in the lower house, only eight more than 2014. Congress Uttar Pradesh in-charge Raj Babbar resigned from the post on Friday, along with campaign committee chief H.K. Patil, Odisha party chief Niranjan Patnaik and Amethi District Congress President Yogendra Misra.
According to sources, a few other senior leaders and party in-charges from states where the party drew a blank, are expected to offer to step down. The final call will be taken at the CWC, the party’s highest decision-making body.