Cong Working Committee meets to review Lok Sabha poll debacle Rahul may offer to quit

Top Congress leaders from across the country Saturday got together to review the party’s drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, as the Congress Working Committee meeting got underway here. The CWC meeting, chaired by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, is being attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Uttar Pradesh (East) in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and chief ministers of four party-ruled states — Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh — and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
The meeting will go into the reasons behind the party’s debacle and discus as to why its poll narrative failed to convince the people. The Congress president is expected to offer his resignation taking moral responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the polls. Senior leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram was also present in the meeting alongside his party colleagues including Ak Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sheila Dikshit, Mallikarjun kharge, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot also attended the meeting along with their Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel. Though the party improved on its 2014 tally of 44, it could win just 52 Lok Sabha seats this year. The party could not open its account in 18 states and Union Territories. Murmurs are already appearing within the party over taking responsibility for its poor performance, with some of its leaders already sending in their resignations. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar and Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik have announced their resignations from the post.