The Congress Working Committee (CWC) Saturday collectively rejected Rahul Gandhi's offer to resign as party president and passed a resolution allowing Gandhi to restructure the party.
The decisions were taken during the CWC meeting attended by Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh and other senior party leaders.
According to reports, Gandhi offered to resign as Congress president after his party faced a debacle in the recently conducted general elections. The proposal was, however, unanimously rejected by the CWC members. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala later denied reports. "Reports of Congress President offering his resignation are incorrect," Surjewala was quoted as saying by a news agency.
Talking to reporters, AK Antony said the grand old party was not able to rise up to the expectations and added, "I don't agree that it was a disastrous performance. We all will discuss this in details as today we had only general discussions."
According to reports, the CWC also deliberated upon the likely causes behind the party's abysmal performance in the elections and passed a resolution authorizing Rahul Gandhi to restructure the party. On being quizzed about whether Gandhi's leadership was questioned during the CWC meeting, party leader Ambika Soni said, "Not at all".
Meanwhile talking to reporters in Maharashtra, party leader and former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan said that Rahul Gandhi should not resign and added that individual Pradesh committee chiefs were equally responsible for the loss.
