Congress president Rahul Gandhi will not participate in the process of electing a new chief for his party.

Addressing the media on Thursday, the 49-year-old Congress chief said that he won’t take part in the process because it will “complicate” things.

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“I will not participate in the process of electing the new president as it will make things more complicated,” he said.

The Congress chief had offered to step down from his post on 25 May, two days after the announcement of the Lok Sabha election results which brought the BJP-led NDA to power for a second time.

The Congress suffered a drubbing in the elections, winning only 52 seats – three short of the number required by a party to be able to appoint a Leader of Opposition.

His offer of resignation was unanimously rejected by the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision making body.

Top leaders from the party appealed to Gandhi to continue as the leader of the party.

“If anyone can lead the party, it is Rahul Gandhi,” Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said at a press conference following the meeting on 25 May.

“In a democracy winning or losing keep happening but providing leadership is a different matter. He gave a leadership, one which is visible – maybe less on TV but very evident among public. We’ve accepted our defeat but it was a defeat of numbers and not ideology,” he added.

At the same press conference, former Defence Minister AK Antony said that the party’s performance cannot be called “disastrous”.

“It was not a disastrous performance but we could not rise up to expectations,” Antony said in response to a question, adding, that the “party will go through details on all issues”.