Five Congress CMs try to convince Rahul Gandhi to stay

Chief ministers of five Congress-ruled states met Rahul Gandhi at his Tughlak Lane residence on Monday afternoon and urged him to reconsider his decision to resign as party president.

Gandhi asked the chief ministers, Captain Amarinder Singh (Punjab), Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and V Narayansamy (Puducherry), to focus on their states.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Gehlot said that, “Rahul ji heard us patiently and we expect him to agree to our request to continue as Congress chief. It was a good meeting.

We talked for two hours and conveyed to him the feelings of party workers and leaders. We hope that he will pay heed to our views and do the right thing.”

Gandhi had resigned as party chief on May 25 at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, two days after the BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections with a bigger majority than 2014 elections.

The CMs did not offer their resignations, but conveyed to Gandhi that they are willing to leave their posts if the need arises,according to sources. They asked him to intervene in the party’s ongoing crisis.

Though the leaders rejected his resignation, Gandhi has remained firm and asked party seniors to look for a new chief. The Congress’s in charge of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Deepak Babaria and PL Punia, are among those who have put in their papers after Gandhi.