NEW DELHI: Strongly indicating that he does not intend to review his decision to step down as Congress president after the party's Lok Sabha debacle , Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the party would decide on his successor and he would keep himself aloof from the process.Asked by the media in the Parliament complex about his possible successor, Rahul crucially did not parry the question but answered that he was not the person to decide on the issue and that it was a task for the party. After weeks of anonymous claims, this was the first confirmation of his intent to quit as the AICC chief ever since he announced the decision at a closed-door meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on May 25. While the apex body turned down the resignation, Congress insiders said that Rahul is insistent on leaving the top job and had rebuffed all attempts to persuade him to stay on.Even before Rahul publicly declared his intent, there were indications that Congress was considering naming a working president or interim president at the head of a "collegium" of leaders. Names of veterans like Mallikarjun Kharge, Sushilkumar Shinde, Ashok Gehlot , Mukul Wasnik and Prithviraj Chavan have done the rounds as likely candidates. Rahul's insistence that no one from the Gandhi family should hold the post effectively rules out sister Priyanka.Rahul's brief remark comes at a time when the party is caught in a bitter blame-game with its data department under Praveen Chakraborty in the crossfire for "misleading" the leadership on the trends in the Lok Sabha elections .The attack has been sharp with allegations that the data itself was not reliable with Chakraborty's proximity to Rahul raising the question whether the "feedback" only served to strengthen the leader's inclination to target PM Narendra Modi 's image.Meanwhile, Rahul met Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel along with AICC state in-charge P L Punia for a political discussion on Thursday evening. Party leaders attach importance to the meeting given that he has been reluctant to interact with colleagues lately.However, Rahul's public attestation about quitting may make it difficult for AICC managers to sway his thinking. As it became apparent that he might actually refuse to relent, various proposals have been mooted to make decision-making a collective affair through a "collegium" so that Rahul returns to active presidency. There have also been suggestions that a working president could be appointed.The proposal for a collegium is rooted in Rahul's complaint that he has been working alone and the party leaders did not pull their weight behind him in the LS polls. He had aired his grievances at the now-famous CWC brainstorming called after the party failed to improve its performance, going from 44 to 52. However, Congress leaders said they would continue to make efforts to persuade Rahul. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot told TOI, "Rahul has to remain the Congress president. He worked hard and fearlessly. Victory and defeat are part of polls."Gehlot warned if Rahul quits, Congress workers would either become inactive or leave the party.Sources say Rahul is hell-bent on quitting and has made it clear that none from the Gandhi family should be put at the helm of the Congress organisation.