'Hope he will agree to our request': Ashok Gehlot, Congress leaders urge Rahul Gandhi to continue as party president

"It was a good meeting that lasted around two hours. We conveyed and apprised him about the feelings of Congress workers across the country and urged him to continue to lead the party. We hope he will positively view our request to him to continue as Congress president," Gehlot told reporters.

He said the chief ministers met Gandhi at his residence and analysed the Lok Sabha poll debacle, while taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat.

He also said the chief ministers felt that instead of doing issue-based politics concerning the common man, the ruling BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi "misled" the people by hiding behind patriotism and the armed forces, as also turned the election into a religious issue.

He said Gandhi provided the right leadership to the Congress and fought the elections by taking on the BJP head-on and he is the only one who can continue to provide the leadership required to the party in the current circumstances.

"We firmly believe that only he can lead the party in the current scenario, his commitment towards well-being of our country and countrymen is un-compromised and unmatched," Gehlot had said on Twitter before the meeting.

He said the 2019 election was not a defeat of the programmes, policies and ideology of the Congress.

He said it was unfortunate that the BJP managed to hide its "huge failures" behind "fanatic nationalism" and with the help of enormous resources of the government machinery.

Only the Congress president, he said, did his best to make it an issue-based election and took the BJP head on.