Congress chief Rahul takes the dinner route to reach out to cadres

NEW DELHI: Newly-elected Congress president Rahul Gandhi will on Sunday host a lunch for party MPs, office bearers, Pradesh Congress Committe members and Congress Legislative Party leaders.

Facing the uphill task of reviving a moribund party, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took over as the Congress president.

The handing over of the mantle of the leadership of the 132-year-old party took place at a ceremony on the lawns of the Congress Headquarters where Central Election Authority President Mullapally Ramachandran presented the Certificate of Election to Rahul Gandhi in a ceremony watched by Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other top leaders of the party.

In his first speech as the Congress president, Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP, accusing it of spreading hatred and violence in the country.

"They break, we unite. They ignite fire, we douse it. They get angry, we love. This is the difference between them and us," he told party workers.

Attacking Modi, he said the Congress took India into the 21st century, "while the prime minister today is taking us backward, to a medieval past where people are butchered because of who they are, beaten for what they believe and killed for what they eat".

This ugly violence in the country, he said, has "shamed us" in the world as India's philosophy and history, born out of love and compassion, are being tarnished by such horror.

The Gandhi scion's formal takeover comes two days before the counting of votes for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections, the outcome of which could be a trendsetter for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. His main challenge remains the revamping of party organisation, apart from electoral battles in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Sonia Gandhi, 71, who helmed the party for 19 years, in her last address as the party President, said the Congress has been playing the role of opposition since 2014 and never before has it faced the challenge that it faces today.