Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, offered to resign Saturday after his Congress party was trounced in a second straight national election, but the gesture was rejected, party officials said.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi triumphantly accepted pledges of allegiance from members of allied parties after his second landslide win, Congress leaders licked their wounds at a special meeting in New Delhi.
“Party President Rahul Gandhi offered his resignation but it was unanimously rejected by the members of Congress Working Commission,” Randeep Surjewala, a party spokesman, told reporters.
Gandhi led the party campaign against Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but managed only 52 seats, barely more than the historic low of 44 in the 2014 election.
The BJP increased its majority, taking 303 of the 543 elected seats announced Friday, up from 282.
“In a democracy wins and losses keep happening but providing leadership is a different matter. He gave leadership,” senior Congress member Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters after the meeting.
Azad said party barons at the meeting, including Gandhi’s mother Sonia and former prime minister Manmohan Singh, urged Rahul Gandhi to continue.