Agency :
India’s Congress party has refused to accept the resignation of its two most senior figures, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, following its crushing defeat in last week’s general election.
Congress, which has been in power for all but 18 years since India won its independence from Britain in 1947, was reduced to a historic low in the poll, claiming just 44 seats in the 543-member parliament as the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) swept to power with the first majority in Indian politics in 30 years.
Indian analysts have described the result as revolutionary and “a democratic asteroid” that has fundamentally altered the political landscape of the emerging economic power.
“It is a game-changer – a radical shift in the social bases of power that is not transitory but long-term. A new era is upon us,” wrote Professor Ashutosh Varshney, of Brown University, in the Indian Express newspaper.
Congress party officials have sought to protect Sonia Gandhi, the 67-year-old party president, and Rahul, her 43-year-old son and vice-president, from blame for the defeat.
Rahul, a Cambridge-educated former management consultant, has struggled to connect with voters and failed to develop any significant momentum throughout the campaign. Congress officials have nonetheless rallied around the two most prominent members of south Asia’s most famous political dynasty.
Both mother and son offered to resign at a meeting of the top decision-making body of the party in Delhi.
“Sonia and Rahul offered to resign, but the Congress working committee rejected it,” said Amarinder Singh, a senior party leader from Punjab.
There has also been speculation that senior Congress figures could call for a greater role in the party for Rahul’s younger sister, Priyanka, who entered campaigning late in the election campaign and is seen as a more effective communicator than her brother.
“Most political parties do not think the removal of the leader is the solution to the problem,” said Mani Shankar Aiyar, on NDTV, a local television channel.
Congress took power in 2004 at the head of a centre-left coalition. Its defeat has been attributed to a sharp economic slowdown, rising food prices and a series of corruption scandals, as well as Rahul being comprehensively overshadowed by the energetic and effective BJP leader, 63-year-old Narendra Modi.
