Congress chief meets state in-charges to discuss LS rout

Congress President Rahul Gandhi is holding meetings with his party's state in-charges to review the reasons for its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections.

According to top Congress sources, days after he held discussions with the party's Chhattisgarh in-charge P.L. Punia, Rahul Gandhi on Friday met senior state leader T.S. Singh Deo. He will meet Punia again today evening.

The Congress chief will meet Maharashtra in-charge Mallikarjuna Kharge on Wednesday, and Delhi in-charge PC Chacko on Friday.

The Congress managed to win only two out of 11 parliamentary seats in Chhattisgarh, despite bagging 67 of the 90 seats in last year's Assembly polls.

In Maharashtra, it managed to win only one out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats. It also lost in all the seven parliamentary seats in the national capital.

Following the rout, Rahul Gandhi offered to step down as Congress chief, but the offer has been rejected by the Congress Working Committee. The grand old party now faces a leadership crisis and has been mulling over a Presidium system of governance in the party with multiple working Presidents.