Kerala Youth Congress leader CR Mahesh on Monday asked party Vice President Rahul Gandhi to step down from the leadership if he is “not interested” in heading it anymore. “Respected Rahul Gandhi, if you are not interested in taking the lead, please make way, as this great entity that has roots all over the country is getting snapped,” he said in a Facebook post.

Mahesh pointed out that the party was facing a crisis at both the national and state level and was being “uprooted” from the country. “We are prepared to die to see that the Indian National Congress stays alive in the country, but it should be ensured that the merit should be given due credit,” he added.

The Youth Congress leader further said that the Kerala Pradesh Congress had remained leaderless for the past two weeks, at a time when they should be actively highlighting the failures of the Communist Party of India(Marxist) and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state. He also urged Congress Working Committee member AK Antony to speak up.

The party’s embarrassing loss in the recent Assembly elections had drawn reactions from a number of Congress leaders. Former minister Ashwani Kumar had said that Congress now faces the threat of losing its relevance as a national party. Former party MP from Mumbai Priya Dutt had said, “Congress has shown repeatedly that it suffers from an auto-immune disease...We need to be treated from within to be healthy again.”