Rahul Gandhi to remain as Congress President, reveals Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi will remain the Congress President, the party said on Wednesday, adding that the Congress Core Committee had been dissolved after the rout in the Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul Gandhi was, is, and will remain the Congress president, party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Wednesday, after days of uncertainty over Gandhi's offer to quit the post.

Earlier, Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily had said that party president Rahul Gandhi can't quit before bringing order to the house and putting an alternative in place.

Moily also mentioned that Rahul Gandhi should establish discipline in the Congress before he resigns.

Moily, who was an influential minister in Manmohan Singh government, said Rahul Gandhi should step in and quell dissidence raging in many state units of the Congress.

It may be mentioned that following the drubbing in the Lok Sabha election, Rahul Gandhi offered to quit as the Congress president on May 25, when the Congress Working Committee met to discuss the poll debacle.

Meanwhile, the Congress Spokesperson, Surjewala made the remarks after senior Congress leaders met here informally under the guidance of A K Antony and discussed the party's strategy and preparation for the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.

Gandhi, who has said he wants to give up the presidency after the Congress defeat, did not attend the meeting. His mother and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi too did not attend as she is in Rae Bareli, from where she was elected to the Lok Sabha.

Senior leaders Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjuna Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, KC Venugopal, Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh and Anand Sharma were present in the meeting.

Surjewala said the Congress Core Committee stood dissolved after the elections.

The meeting on Wednesday of party leaders was presided over by former Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony.

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