Congress core panel axed, Rahul to be President

Rahul Gandhi will remain the Congress President, the party said on Wednesday, adding that the Congress Core Committee had been dissolved after the rout in the Lok Sabha elections.

"Rahul Gandhi is the President and will remain the President," spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told the media after members of the core committee met informally to discuss the coming Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.

Gandhi, who has said he wants to give up the presidency after the Congress defeat, did not attend the meeting. His mother and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi too did not attend as she is in Rae Bareli, from where she was elected to the Lok Sabha.

Surjewala said the Congress Core Committee stood dissolved after the elections.

The meeting on Wednesday of party leaders was presided over by former Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony. IANS