Sheila Dikshit plans 'dharna' to stop Rahul Gandhi from resigning
What's the story
After a crushing defeat in the 2019 general elections, Congress is going through a crisis. Party President Rahul Gandhi is adamant to leave his post and the rest of the members are trying hard to convince him. Amid the existing confusion, senior Congress leader Sheila Dikshit has decided to stage a demonstration outside Rahul's house on Wednesday evening. She said 'Rahul can't go'.
Twitter Post
The 'protest' has begun: Here are the visuals
Delhi: Jagdish Tytler and other Congress leaders and supporters present outside the residence of Congress President Rahul Gandhi. pic.twitter.com/DzX3ITpi2X
— ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2019
Numbers
Congress won 52 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls
Under Rahul, Congress secured only 52 seats in the 543-member strong Lok Sabha. He failed to retain his home turf Amethi, which elected BJP leader Smriti Irani this time. After the defeat, Congress' top-decision making body Congress Working Committee (CWC) met on Saturday, to assess what went wrong. In the meeting, Rahul offered to step down but CWC didn't accept. Nevertheless, he remained resolute.
Convincing Rahul
Expectedly, reactions to Rahul's resignation ranged from dramatic to infuriating
Many Congress leaders are opposing Rahul's decision. At the post-mortem meeting, P Chidambaram claimed cadres of South India would commit suicide if Rahul resigns. His sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was given the responsibility of UP East, suggested Rahul to not fall into BJP's trap. Separately, Rahul's mother and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said, "Gandhis don't quit", but left the decision to her son.
Plans
Dikshit claims Rahul has done some good work
Taking it (sycophancy?) a step further, Dikshit said she and other party workers will never accept Rahul's resignation. "He has done good work. Winning and losing are part of life, but it is important to keep fighting," Dikshit said. Notably, she was made the chief of Delhi Congress for polls, and the party didn't even manage to win one seat.
Quote
"If Rahul resigns, party will suffer huge loss"
"We are going to be near the residence of Rahul Gandhi and will demonstrate there to convey our feelings that he should not resign. The party will suffer a very heavy loss which we don't want. We are going there to plead with him to not do this," Dikshit said.
Message
Dikshit reminded that Indira Gandhi lost polls too
Dikshit cited the example of Rahul's grandmother Indira Gandhi, who served as Prime Minister for many years, to support her point. "Under the dynamic leadership of Indira Gandhi, the Congress party fought back from the setback in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections to wrest power two-and-a-half years later," she said. The 81-year-old leader told party workers they shouldn't get disheartened.
Details
Apparently, Rahul put leaders on notice for finding his replacement
Meanwhile, Rahul avoided meeting Congress leaders on Tuesday and let Priyanka do the talking. It is learned that Rahul gave senior Congress workers a month's time to find his replacement. He said he will serve his duties till then. But finding his successor could take longer than a month. Well, in all this brouhaha, Congress is only showing its poor management skills.