New Delhi, June 1: Congress President Rahul Gandhi, who has been insisting on quitting the post after the party's poor show in Lok Sabha elections, addressed newly-elected lawmakers of the party on Saturday. In his address, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress party has 52 MPs in Lok Sabha and "will fight the Bharatiya Janata Party every day". The Congress chief said every single member of the party will fight to save the Constitution.

"We are 52 MPs. I guarantee you that these 52 MPs will fight against BJP every single inch. We are enough to make BJP jump every day," Gandhi told Congress lawmakers. "You have to understand who you are first. Every Congress member must remember that each one of you is fighting for the Constitution. You are fighting for every single Indian. Hatred cowardice and anger is fighting against you... You have to be more aggressive," he added.

Gandhi thanked the voters and addressed the Congress party workers and also remembered those will lost the election. "I would be happy if the old faces were here and they are ideologically with us," he said. Gandhi's close aide, Jyotiraditya Scindia, faced defeat from his family turf Guna. Karnataka Municipal Elections 2019 Results: Congress Questions EVM After Winning Urban Local Body Polls. 

The question of whether Gandhi will be the Leader of the Congress in parliament, however, remained unanswered as the meeting of Congress lawmakers ended soon after choosing Sonia Gandhi as its chairperson. The position of the Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha was previously held by Mallikarjun Kharge. Kharge, however, lost the election from Karnataka's Gulbarga.

All 52 MPs of the Congress party and its Rajya Sabha members were present at the meeting. The lawmakers re-elected Sonia Gandhi as the Congress Parliamentary Party leader. She won the Rae Bareli seat from Uttar Pradesh by defeating the BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh by over 1.67 lakh votes. She was party president till 2017 for 19 long years before passing the baton to son Rahul Gandhi.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 01, 2019 12:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).