Rahul insists on stepping down after poll debacle
Modi re-elected as BJP parliament party leader, stakes claim to form government
The head of India’s main opposition Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, offered to quit yesterday after a crushing election defeat but senior party officials rejected his offer and called instead for a major internal shake-up.
Gandhi had been under intense pressure since results released on May 23 showed Congress won only 52 of the 542 seats up for grabs in the country’s general election.
But Gandhi insisted that his resignation was accepted and that he didn’t withdraw his offer to step down.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) said in a statement that it “unanimously and with one voice rejected” the resignation offer. “The CWC recommends a thorough introspection and requested the Congress President for a complete overhaul and a detailed restructuring at every level of the party.”
Party sources said General
It is generally said that the election divides, creates distances, makes walls. But the 2019 elections have worked to break the walls.”
Narendra Modi | Indian Prime Minister
Secretary Priyanka Gandhi also told Rahul Gandhi that it was not the right time to resign.
Meanwhile, newly-elected lawmakers from ruling alliance led by Bharatiya Janata Party elected Narendra Modi as their leader yesterday, paving the way for his second five-year term as prime minister.
In his address to the lawmakers, Modi stressed the need to win over the trust of minorities, saying they were made to live in “fear” and “exploited” during elections for vote-bank politics.
Later he met Indian President Ramnath Kovind to stake claim to form government.
Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, offered to resign yesterday after his Congress party was trounced in a second straight national election but the gesture was rejected, party officials said.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi triumphantly accepted pledges of allegiance from members of allied parties after his second landslide win, Congress leaders licked their wounds at a special meeting in New Delhi.
“Party President Rahul Gandhi offered his resignation but it was unanimously rejected by the members of Congress Working Commission,” Randeep Surjewala, a party spokesman, told reporters.
Gandhi led the party campaign against Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but managed only 52 seats, barely more than the historic low of 44 in the 2014 election.
The BJP increased its majority, taking 303 of the 543 elected seats announced Friday, up from 282.
“In a democracy wins and losses keep happening but providing leadership is a different matter. He gave leadership,” senior Congress member Gulam Nabi Azad told reporters after the meeting.
Azad said party barons at the meeting, including Gandhi’s mother Sonia and former
Gandhi led the party campaign against Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party but managed only 52 seats, barely more than the historic low of 44 in the 2014 election.
prime minister Manmohan Singh, urged Rahul Gandhi to continue.
Gandhi led the Congress campaign in the 2014 defeat before taking over from his mother as party president in 2017.
The 48-year-old lost his constituency in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, that has been a family bastion for decades. He was allowed to contest a second seat however and won in southern India.
Experts outside Congress have strongly criticised his display against Modi, who mocked the opposition leader as a spoiled member of the family dynasty that has dominated Indian politics since independence in 1947, providing three prime ministers.
Modi was unanimously elected head of his BJP-led alliance in a special ceremonial meeting at parliament. He is to be sworn in for a new term this week.
In West Bengal state, where Modi’s BJP took seats from the regional Trinamool Congress party, supporters of the two sides fought battles that left one dead, officials said.
Paramilitary forces boosted security on Saturday because of the violence.
The BJP said a 23-year-old party worker was shot dead by Trinamool activists late Friday at Chakda, north of the regional capital Kolkata. The rival party denied any involvement. The man’s family said he was shot in a field near his home.
Clashes between BJP and Trinamool activists were also reported in three other districts.