Rahul again rejects MPs’ call to stay as party chief

Congress president Rahul Gandhi yesterday again rejected a plea by MPs to continue as the party chief, a month after he decided to give up the top post after the Lok Sabha election drubbing.
According to party sources, Rahul Gandhi was requested by MPs like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari to remain the party chief at the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meeting in Parliament.
“But Rahul remained firm on stepping down,” a party source said.
The CPP meeting was chaired by Sonia Gandhi.
The National Students Union of India (NSUI) also staged a rally outside Rahul’s residence here yesterday to persuade him to take back his offer of stepping down from the presidency.
Hundreds of Youth Congress activists carried placards which read: “Nation needs you Rahul Gandhi” and “Without you we are nothing”.
According to party leaders, NSUI leaders are set to meet Rahul.
Rahul had on May 25 announced his decision to resign as party president after the Congress suffered a major blow in the Lok Sabha elections.
His decision was rejected unanimously by the CWC, the party’s top decision making body.
However, Rahul has in the last few days taken organisational decisions including the dissolution of the Karnataka Congress unit and all district committees in Uttar Pradesh.
The Congress won only 52 seats and Rahul was himself defeated in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh although he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala. 
Meanwhile, Rahul has invited 25 leaders from the Congress and the IUML to help him prepare a roadmap for the overall development of his constituency Wayanad, a party leader said yesterday.
Those called to meet him in Delhi tomorrow include state Congress president Mullapally Ramachandran, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, district Congress presidents of Wayanad, Kozhikode and Malappuram as well as some Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders.
“Rahul has indicated that he wants to bring systematic development in his constituency keeping in mind its environment,” Kozhikode district Congress president T Sidiq said here.
“His offices in the constituency would also be streamlined to see speedy redressal of issues that the people face,” Sidiq added.
Earlier Rahul described the mob lynching of a Muslim youth in Jharkhand as a “blot on humanity” and criticised the “silence” of powerful voices in the BJP-ruled central and state governments.
“The brutal lynching of this young man by a mob in Jharkhand is a blot on humanity. The cruelty of the police who held this dying boy in custody for four days is shocking as is the silence of powerful voices in the BJP-ruled central and state government,” he tweeted.