TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Congress President Rahul Gandhi was set to meet on Monday Chief Ministers of five Congress-ruled states for the first time after the Lok Sabha election defeat and made it clear he was firm on giving up the party”s leadership. Shortly after Rajasthan”s Ashok Gehlot said that Gandhi should remain at the party”s helm, the party chief told reporters here: “I have made my decision clear. You all know it.”
Amid mass resignations in the Congress in a show of “solidarity”, Gandhi, who has announced his decision to give up the presidency, was to meet Gehlot, Amarinder Singh (Punjab), Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh), V. Narayansamy (Puducherry) and Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh).
There is no official agenda for the meeting but the crisis in the country”s oldest political party following its rout is bound to come up for discussion. The Congress faces a leadership issue, with Gandhi announcing he won”t continue as the President and asking the party to pick a successor. Most Congress leaders, however, want Gandhi to continue to lead the party.
The
Congress won just 52 seats in the Lok Sabha. Gandhi himself was defeated in
Amethi in Uttar Pradesh although he got elected from Wayanad in Kerala. The
party suffered a drubbing even in the Hindi heartland states where only last
year it had ousted the BJP from power in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh.
