New Delhi:
Even after Sonia Gandhi reasserted her decision not to name son Rahul as Congress' prime ministerial candidate, thousands of party workers at a conclave in Delhi today made it clear they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.
Slogans of "Rahul Gandhi Zindabad' kept drowning out proceedings intermittently, forcing the Congress president to firmly tell the gathering that the decision she took on Thursday was final. The moment she ended her opening address, however, the chants of 'Rahul, Rahul' were back.
"We are not ready to accept anyone other than Rahul Gandhi as the PM. In Panchmarhi, a resolution was adopted which said that leaders over 60 years of age will be nominated to the Rajya Sabha," said a Congress worker from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.
As some workers shouted Rahul's sister Priyanka's name, one of them clarified, "Whether it is Rahul or Priyanka, we want them. But we need Rahul to fight Narendra Modi."
No amount of cajoling could silence the workers, not even when Rahul Gandhi himself got up and took the mic, making an intervention.
"In two-three hours I will speak. What you want to hear, I will say everything in my speech. I will say what's in my heart," he told his supporters, raising his hands while asking them to calm down.
Some speculated that this was a hint of a bigger announcement by the party's vice president later today.
The 43-year-old will be his party's campaign chief for the national election in three months, it was decided at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee yesterday. Though he is not the party's official candidate for PM, many see him as the obvious one.
"I wanted Rahul Gandhi to be announced the PM candidate...I hope that when they do announce a candidate, it will be Rahul Gandhi," said Ramya, 31, the youngest Lok Sabha member, who is attending her first such Congress conclave.