CWC pitches for Rahul as LoP in LS
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi during the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting, at the Central Hall of Parliament, in New Delhi on Saturday
New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Saturday unanimously urged senior party leader Rahul Gandhi to take on the mantle of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha.
At a meeting of the CWC, the party's highest decision-making body, chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, among others, the party's Lok Sabha polls showing was hailed but it was also decided that separate committees would be set up in states where the performance was not good or below expectations, to take corrective measures.
Kharge said the Lok Sabha poll mandate is a "decisive rejection" of the politics of divisiveness and hate and stressed that the INDIA bloc must continue functioning cohesively both inside and outside Parliament.
Two resolutions were unanimously passed by the CWC, including one requesting Rahul Gandhi to assume the position of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
Asked if had agreed to take on the position, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said Gandhi took note of the sentiments of the CWC members and told them that he would take a decision on it "very soon". In the other resolution, the CWC congratulated the people for voting so powerfully to preserve democracy, protect the Constitution and enhance social and economic justice. "They have decisively rejected both the substance and style of governance over the past decade. The verdict of the people is not just a political loss but a personal and moral defeat for the Prime Minister who sought the mandate in his name and ran a campaign anchored in lies, hate, prejudice, divisiveness and extreme bigotry," the resolution alleged.
The verdict of the people is clearly against the undermining of democracy and democratic institutions that has taken place since 2014, it said.
In his opening remarks at the meeting, Kharge asserted that while celebrating its "revival", the party should pause a little as it did not perform to its abilities and expectations in some states.