Rahul concedes defeat; congratulates Modi

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 23

Congress president Rahul Gandhi concedes defeat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi nationally and to minister Smriti Irani in his family backyard of Amethi congratulating both and saying he hoped both will “lovingly care” for their respective constituencies—PM for the country and Irani for Amethi.

Asked if he would resign taking moral responsibility for his party’s defeat and his personal loss from Amethi, Gandhi said the Congress Working Committee will soon meet and decide that.

“The CWC will decide on that. We will meet shortly,” said Gandhi at a press briefing he addressed at the party headquarters, as his sister, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, looked on. 

Gandhi refused to comment on what went wrong, saying only: “Today is not the day to get into the details of the mandate. Even if I speak it won’t matter because the people have spoken and they have voted to make Modi the PM. Today is a day to congratulate the PM and hope he will look after the interests of the country”.

Gandhi said there’s a lot of time to introspect on what went wrong and reiterated that he will continue to reciprocate any bitterness with love and noting that love is never defeated.

He also said the election was a battle between two visions of India and the people had voted for the BJP’s vision.

I respect that, he said, making a quick exit from AICC office that wore a deserted look as Congress faced electoral decimation for the second term in a row and Gandhi lost his family’s seat Amethi to Smriti Irani.