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Rahul furious at party's failure to work in untiy

Last Updated 25 May 2019, 17:15 IST

Congress President Rahul Gandhi was furious at party leaders on Saturday for failing to work as a cohesive unit during the Lok Sabha elections and singled out leaders who focused on seats where their kin was in the fray.

The four-hour long meeting of the Congress Working Committee also saw leaders such as P Chidambaram advising Rahul against resigning from the top party post contending that such a step may lead to an emotional outburst in Kerala and Tamil Nadu where the party had performed well.

AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also learnt to have told Rahul that he would walk into the BJP's trap if he stepped down as the Congress President.

Leaders attending the meeting of the Congress Working Committee turned emotional when Rahul made an offer to quit. Many told him that he and the Congress had put up a “good fight” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who played on the people's emotions to win a mandate.

A common refrain during the meeting was that many leaders stuck to their pocket boroughs and did not venture out to help party candidates.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh suggested setting up of a committee to examine the reasons for the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.

Over the next few weeks, Rahul is expected to meet leaders from states to understand what went wrong for the party in the election.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the CWC members asked Rahul to identify the strengths of all the leaders and accordingly assign them new responsibilities.

A section of the leaders voiced concern over the electronic voting machines and wanted the party to press for returning to use of ballot paper for the conduct of elections.

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(Published 25 May 2019, 16:30 IST)

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