He also said he does not want any other member of the Gandhi family to succeed him, virtually ruling out Priyanka as well for the top party position.
Replying to the debate in Rajya Sabha on a motion thanking the president for his address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament, he said for the first time in decades, people of Jammu and Kashmir got benefits of reservation.
The Congress is seeking to give a strong political message to the nation from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel, with the party leadership holding the prayer meeting at Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, followed by the CWC meet at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel national memorial in the state.
The CWC meeting is being held in Gujarat after a gap of 58 years. It was last held in the state at Bhavnagar in 1961.
'... while leaving the dirty work he orders to his subordinates.'
'Soniaji is like a mother to the party. We revere her even now'
The disgruntled leader said he will be unable to continue in the party for long if his voice is not heard.
High drama played out at the nearly seven-hour Congress Working Committee meeting with sources saying that Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the letter writers and some leaders found it to be insinuating that it was written in cahoots with the BJP.
Several leaders, including many MPs, wrote to Sonia Gandhi, either calling for her to continue or urging Rahul Gandhi to take charge.
Some commentators said Gandhi's decision will augur well for a party that needs to reinvent itself and present a clear vision to again emerge as a credible alternative.
Gandhi reportedly told them that he has already conveyed his decision to the Congress Working Committee and would not relent.
The party also announced that Kamal Nath will contest the bypoll for the Chhindwara assembly constituency.
The current battle within the party is seen as setting the stage for August 10 when Sonia completes one year of interim presidentship, and questions are being raised about a leadership vacuum. For the first time, responsible quarters are suggesting that as Sonia cannot function as interim president indefinitely and Rahul seems to want power but not the responsibility, one way out is collective leadership, reports Aditi Phadnis.
'It is mind-boggling that a party can be in rigor mortis even after numerous electoral defeats,' observes Ramesh Menon.
Addressing the Congress Working Committee, the president of the party said, ""Misfortunes do not come singly. India has been hit by a terrible economic crisis, a pandemic of huge proportions and, now, by a full-blown crisis on the borders with China. Much of each crisis is attributable to the mismanagement of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government and the wrong policies pursued by it."
The party will hold the internal elections by October 15.
As president of the Congress, he said he is responsible for the loss of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Calling for availability of all necessary equipment for medical professionals, she said the onus lies on the government to ensure that the spread of infection and casualties are not caused owing to lack of infrastructure or preparedness.
P Chidambaram proposed that Sonia should be made the party's interim president.
'It would indeed be difficult for someone from outside the Gandhi family to run the party'
Tharoor also said that he certainly thinks Rahul Gandhi has the "mettle, capability and aptitude to once again lead the party", but if he does not wish to do so then the party must "take action" to elect a new chief.
The letter was not a challenge to leadership but a parchment of action to strengthen the party, Congress MP Vivek Tankha asserted, while former union minister Mukul Wasnik said those who saw the letter as an "offence" will also soon realise that the issues raised are worth consideration.
The BJP on the other hand is in power in 16 states in the country.
Shaktisinh Gohil asserted that the Gandhi family had always shown large-heartedness and never aspired for power.
Kishor posted a tweet 'thanking' Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi for their 'formal and unequivocal' rejection of the NRC. He also reassured the people of Bihar that the CAA and NRC will not be implemented in the state. However, JD-U's ally BJP got rankled by Kishor's move and made contrary claims.
The Congress and other opposition parties have accused the police of bias and inaction in the Delhi violence.
Sources said the Congress Parliamentary Party authorised Gandhi to pick the party's leader in Lok Sabha.
The Congress president also hit out at the government over demonetisation, saying the move left millions of people 'suffering'.
'For people like me, we already have leaders, we have a leader in Mrs Sonia Gandhi, we have a leader in Rahul Gandhi'
'Leave alone top gear, we are in the neutral and when we are applying gears, we are applying reverse'
Ambassador Venu Rajamony, who served as press secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee during his tenure, salutes the statesman and political legend, who passed into the ages on Monday.
Chauhan, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, said political parties governed by dynasty, family and caste politics were defeated everywhere including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the general elections.
The Wayanad lawmaker, who became the Congress president in 2017, offered to step down from his post at the Congress Working Committee meeting on May 25, taking moral responsibility for the Congress' abysmal performance in the 17th Lok Sabha elections.
By the looks of it, the Congress cannot hope to return to power even in election 2024. What it can do is to start from the bottom, hold organisational elections, which are honest, and co-opt those elected to form teams of office-bearers at all levels, right up to the working committee. By the very nature of the elections that they are going to lose, the party should use the interim to shore up youth power, or whatever remains, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
One way forward could be for the CWC to name an interim working president for the party and then ideally dissolve itself, following which the main leadership positions within the party, including the CWC itself, should be opened up to fresh elections
'In spirit, and more importantly in its DNA, this is the Congress Inc, or Incorporated, a family-run entity,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The party also made it clear that no one will be permitted to undermine or weaken the party and its leadership. The CWC also resolved that inner-party issues cannot be deliberated through the media or in public fora and all such issues must be raised within the party 'in the interest of propriety and discipline'.
The Congress workers torched an effigy of Swamy during the protest.
The Punjab CM said a young leader with a forward-looking approach would "galvanise" the rank and file of the party after the "unfortunate" resignation of Gandhi.
Revanth, the Congress candidate for Kodangal constituency had called a protest rally and a bandh against Rao's scheduled meeting at Kosigi in the assembly segment on Tuesday evening.
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