Ahead Poll, Gandhi's To Resign From Their Posts

Rahul will not hold an official post, but functions as a top leader.

Ahead of the Assembly election polls in 5 states, on Sunday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in her speech to senior leaders at a meeting to discuss the party's latest election defeats, offered to resign along with her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Rahul Gandhi, a Congress MP, does not hold an official post, but functions as a top leader. Mrs. Gandhi presented the offer as "ultimate sacrifice in the interest of the party".

According to the Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, who attended the Congress Working Committee meeting, confirmed that this comment was made, as did other sources in the Congress who spoke to NDTV after the meeting of its top decision-making body.

In an official report of the news agency ANI, Mr. Choudhary said,”Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi said that she along with her family members Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are ready to sacrifice their posts for the party, but we all rejected this."

On Saturday, the day before the Congress met, NDTV had exclusively reported that the Gandhis would offer to give up leadership roles. This triggered a strong denial from the party.

"The news story of alleged resignations being carried on NDTV based on unnamed sources is completely unfair, mischievous and incorrect. It is unfair for a TV channel to carry such unsubstantiated propaganda stories emanating from imaginary sources at the instance of ruling BJP," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had tweeted.

ANI, citing unnamed sources, said the Gandhis offered to resign but the offer was unanimously rejected. The Hindu has also reported this.

Asked about this yesterday, Mr. Surjewala's answer was deliberately ambiguous though he did not deny it. He said, "Lots of deliberations took place and they are not open to the media." It was ultimately decided, he said, that until the organizational elections, there would be "no murmur against the leadership".