Deadlock over Rahul\'s resignation continues\, so does uncertainty over leadership

Deadlock over Rahul's resignation continues, so does uncertainty over leadership

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi 

The stalemate over Rahul Gandhi's offer to quit as the continued Tuesday amid the deepening fissures in the party's state units over its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls.

The CWC had unanimously rejected his offer to quit but Gandhi is apparently firm on his stand, they added.

There have also been speculations on the need to put in place an interim arrangement for the decision making, specially in the run-up to assembly elections in Haryana, and later this year, if does not relent.

A party source said most of the leaders, however, are hoping that Gandhi will continue to lead the party as the Nehru-Gandhi family acts as a "glue" that binds the party together.

Meanwhile, rumblings within the state units of the party are growing louder over the massive defeat of the in the Lok Sabha elections in which it managed to win only 52 seats from across the country.

Some Congress leaders from the western were involved in a war of words during and after a Lok Sabha polls review meeting on Tuesday, sources said.

During the meeting chaired by Jyotiraditya Scindia, some leaders raised questions over the ticket distribution and blamed senior Congress leaders for the poll debacle in the state, they said.

A war of words erupted among some Congress leaders and arguments continued even after the meeting held at the party's war room at 15, Gurudwara Raqabganj Road here ended.

Differences in the once again came to the fore Tuesday with the party's Lok Sabha candidate for the (Urban) Lok Sabha seat claiming that an "internal conspiracy" led to her defeat in the recent elections.

Former blamed the party's state for her defeat.

She claimed that Archana Sharma, who was the Congress candidate from Malviya Nagar in the 2018 assembly elections, and her husband "conspired" for her defeat.

Fissures in the too deepened last week with Minister changing Navjot Singh Sidhu's portfolio within hours of the snubbing him by skipping a Cabinet meeting.

Sidhu Monday met Gandhi in and apprised him of the "situation" in the state.

The tension between Singh and Sidhu came out in the open last month when the minister had blamed the "inept handling" of the local government department by the cricketer-turned-politician's for the "poor performance" of the Congress in the state's urban areas during the Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress is also facing a crisis in Telangana where P last Thursday recognised 12 MLAs of Congress as members of TRS, hours after they aproached him seeking merger of their group with the ruling party.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Tue, June 11 2019. 22:35 IST