Congress leaders bat for Rahul Gandhi as Leader of Opposition in Parliament

The clamour grows as the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) meets for the first time since the poll results were announced.

Congress leader Veerappa Moily said,"We need to discuss many things - the manner in which the Congress and also INDIA scored a very high percentage of votes and also the seats. Of course, we should have won and captured the power and Rahul Gandhi should have become the Prime Minister of this country. But we missed it.

"But now, Narendra Modi is not that great, he has been totally pulled down in terms of popularity, in terms of vote share. I think we are marching forward, and if not today, tomorrow the Congress - under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi - has to come back."

Congress leader Manickam Tagore said on X, "I sought votes on the name of my leader, Rahul Gandhi. I think he should be the Leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha. I hope elected Congress MPs also think the same. Let’s see how the Congress Parliamentary Party decides. We are a Democratic Party."

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor told PTI, "He and Congress president (Mallikarjun) Kharge campaigned extensively throughout the country, but Mr Kharge is in the Rajya Sabha where he leads the Opposition and it would only be fitting that Rahul Gandhi does the same in the Lok Sabha. I have certainly conveyed my view both publicly and privately in that regard."

"I think we have a strong number now to stand up to the government and it (Leader of Opposition) should be a leader who is undoubtedly the most popular in the party."

Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said, "Like 140 crore Indians, I also want Rahul Gandhi-ji to take the position of Leader of Opposition because he took the responsibility of raising people's voice against the Modi government."

After a gap of 10 years, the country is set to have an Opposition leader as Congress has won 99 seats, the figure much above than what is required.

Rahul Gandhi has won from both Kerala's Wayanad and Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli in the Lok Sabha polls.

As BJP's tally of seats stopped at 240- 32 short of the majority mark (272)- TDP (16 seats), JDU (12 seats), Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena (7 seats) and Chirag Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas (5 seats) have emerged as the kingmakers.

It is learnt that Naidu and Kumar, who have remained in coalition governments in the past, aim for plum posts in the new central government.

Modi, who has been chosen as the leader of NDA alliance, will take oath as the Prime Minister on June 9.

The INDIA bloc, which performanced better than what was expected, has decided to "wait and watch" after winning 232 seats.