Election 2019 Latest Updates: Hours after BJP announced that several TMC leaders were joining its party, Mamata Banerjee said that she will attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony on Thursday in New Delhi since it’s a ceremonial event.

BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “In Parliament there should be space for Opposition. So, if there is no Rahul Gandhi then there is a possibility of a vibrant Opposition. But if I look from BJP’s point of view, not India’s, then we wish that Rahul continues as Congress president for next 50 years.”

Amit Shah will meet Narendra Modi in New Delhi at his residence on Tuesday. CNN-News18 reported that the duo are likely to discuss Cabinet formation. Meanwhile, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee has released a statement appealing to Congress president Rahul Gandhi to take back his resignation.

At the BJP press conference, Kailash Vijayvargiya claimed that there are many TMC leaders who are still willing to join the BJP and the jumping of ship with continue in the coming days. “Like the elections were held in seven phases in West Bengal, joinings in BJP will also happen in seven phases. Today was just the first phase,” he said.

Mukul Roy’s son is among three Bengal MLAs and 50 TMC councillors who are joining the BJP, the saffron party announced at a press conference in New Delhi.

Reports suggest that Rahul Gandhi has called a meeting of senior party leaders at 4.30 pm. This comes in the backdrop of day-log discussions between Congress’ senior leadership including Ashok Gehlot, Randeep Surjewala and Sachin Pilot.

MK Stalin, DMK chief and a key UPA ally, dialed up Rahul Gandhi, urging him not to resign as Congress chief. He had earlier too backed Gandhi at a time when speculations were rife that the combined Opposition may not be able to come to a consensus on a prime ministerial face. Stalin was the first person in the UPA camp who proposed the name of Rahul as the prime ministerial candidate.

The party is coming to terms with Rahul Gandhi’s resolve and the possibility of another chief. The new chief has to be approved by all three Gandhis – Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, NDTV reported quoting sources.

Rashtriya Janata Dal patriarch Lalu Prasad has termed Rahul Gandhi’s adamancy to quit his post as Congress president as “suicidal”. Tweeting outhis opinion, Lalu said that the move will prove counterproductive for the forces fighting against Sangh’s ideology.

Rahul Gandhi has refused to go back on the decision to quit, Congress leader Tarun Gogoi told NDTV on Tuesday. “He will not change his mind, though I want him to continue,” said Gogoi, also a member of the Congress Working Committee. Gogoi said Rahul Gandhi was extremely upset with senior leaders of the party. “He was not happy with some of our seniors. The way many senior leaders behaved, he felt they should have worked hard but they were not up to his expectations.”

The Congress on Tuesday denied reports that the party’s highest decision making body, its Working Committee, was meeting soon amid party president Rahul Gandhi’s insistence on quitting following a numbing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.

Faced with a colossal electoral defeat, the Congress is driven by internal turmoil with Rahul Gandhi insisting on quitting as party president while its governments in Rajasthan and Karnataka teetered on the brink.

In the midst of the disquiet, several state Congress chiefs, including Punjab’s Sunil Jakhar, Jharkhand’s Ajoy Kumar and Assam’s Ripun Bora, also offered to resign following the party’s drubbing in the elections, party insiders said.

Congress sources said Gandhi is insisting on resigning his post and is understood to have conveyed to several leaders that it is time for the grand old party to look for a new chief.

The Congress won only 52 out of 542 parliamentary seats in the Lok Sabha polls, just six more than its 2014 tally. The party could not open its account in 18 states and union territories.

Taking responsibility for the defeat, Gandhi on Saturday offered to resign as party president at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, but it was “unanimously rejected”.

At the CWC meeting, Gandhi accused three senior leaders — Ashok Gehlot, Kamal Nath and P Chidambaram — of placing their sons above the party. His sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the entire top brass of the party left Rahul Gandhi alone to fight it out against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As the party grapples with a severe existential crisis, its governments in both Karnataka and Rajasthan face a tough time with reports suggesting the BJP may try to wrest power in both states.

It is learnt that Congress legislators Ramesh Jarkiholi and Dr Sudhakar visited BJP leader S M Krishna’s residence in Bengaluru on Sunday along with several other BJP leaders and they are understood to have deliberated on dethroning the incumbent dispensation.

Sources said a number of Congress legislators in Karnataka are understood to be unhappy over the party’s electoral loss.

In Rajasthan, there have been reports of internal turmoil with several ministers demanding fixing of accountability and seeking action against those responsible for the poll debacle in the state.

The Congress drew a blank in Rajasthan as the NDA won all 25 seats. In Karnataka, where it formed a government with the JD(S) in May last year, the Congress managed to win only one Lok Sabha seat out of 28.

The party was crushed in most of the 29 states, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where it had defeated BJP in the assembly polls in December.

As crisis beset the opposition party, its chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Monday urged everyone to respect the sanctity of the CWC meeting and asked the media not to fall into the trap of “conjectures, insinuations, gossip and rumour-mongering”.

Surjewala said it is a democratic forum for exchange of ideas and taking corrective action. It was a “closed-door” meeting and any speculation about it was unwarranted and uncalled for, he added.

He was reacting to news reports about happenings at the May 25 meeting, the first of the CWC after the Congress’s humiliating defeat in the parliamentary polls.

“The Congress party expects everyone, including the media, to respect the sanctity of a closed-door meeting of the CWC. Various conjectures, speculation, insinuations, assumptions, gossip and rumour-mongering in a section of the media is uncalled for and unwarranted.

“The CWC held a collective deliberation on the performance of the party, the challenges before it as also the way ahead, instead of casting aspersions on the role or conduct of any specific individual. The gist of the deliberations was made public in the CWC resolution of May 25, 2019,” the Congress leader said in a statement.

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Your guide to the latest election news, analysis, commentary, live updates and schedule for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on firstpost.com/elections. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Facebook page for updates from all 543 constituencies for the upcoming general elections.

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Your guide to the latest seat tally, live updates, analysis and list of winners for Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on firstpost.com/elections. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Instagram or like our Facebook page for updates from all 542 constituencies on counting day of the general elections.

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