Five Congress CMs try to convince Rahul Gandhi to stay

The chief ministers of five Congress-ruled states met Rahul Gandhi on Monday and urged him to reconsider his decision to resign as party president.

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, Punjab’s Captain Amarinder Singh, Chhattisgarh’s Bhupesh Baghel and Puducherry’s VNarayanasamy met Gandhi at his Tughlaq Lane residence on Monday afternoon and discussed the Lok Sabha debacle threadbare. According to sources, the chief ministers told Gandhi that the humiliating defeat was collective responsibility and not individual responsibility. A chief minister, who did not wish to be identified, told ET, “it was a twohour meeting where we tried to tell Rahul ji that he is the only one who can lead the party right now. He told us that the defeat happened under his watch and he needed to take responsibility.”

The chief ministers told Gandhi that his decision to resign would not send the right signal to party cadres at such a crucial time. “It would be demoralising for the party.


We told him that this is a crucial time when he is needed the most and if he resigns, it would be a double blow for the Congress,” said another chief minister, who did not want to be quoted.

Emerging from the meeting, Gehlot told reporters, “Rahul ji heard us patiently and we expect him to agree to our request to continue as Congress chief. It was a good meeting.

We talked for two hours and conveyed to him the feelings of party workers and leaders. We hope that he will pay heed to our views and do the right thing.”

Gandhi had resigned as party chief on May 25 at a meeting of Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, two days after BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections with a bigger majority than 2014 elections.

Though the leaders rejected his resignation, Gandhi has remained firm and asked party seniors to look for a new chief. Gandhi had pointed out that he felt he did not get the requisite support of his partymen and took on the might of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and Mohan Bhagwat alone. He even pointed out that party seniors never took up potent political issues like Rafale deal in their speeches.

After the meeting, Nath said that he wanted to resign as Madhya Pradesh state Congress chief and has already conveyed to Gandhi that he be replaced at the earliest.