Post Congress leaders' informal meeting, Surjewala reaffirms Gandhi's leadership

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

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 had offered to quit as party chief during a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on May 25 which was called to analyse the party's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls, in which it managed to win just 52 seats.

The CWC had unanimously rejected his offer to quit but Gandhi was apparently firm on his stand. "Rahul ji was, is and will remain the Congress president. We have no doubt about it," Surjewala told reporters when asked about the situation arising out of Gandhi's offer to resign.

Senior leaders Ahmed Patel, Mallikarjuna Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, KC Venugopal, Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh and Anand Sharma were present in the meeting. All the leaders present in Wednesday's meeting were members of the core group formed for the Lok Sabha polls.

However, Surjewala clarified that contrary to speculation in the media there was no core group now as all election-related committees ceased to exist.