Sheila Dikshit said Rahul Gandhi's leadership is "precious"

The Congress will not let go of Rahul Gandhi, said its Delhi chief Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday as the party president remained firm on quitting over the national election rout and refused to meet any leader. "Rahul Gandhi's leadership is precious, we won't let go of him," said the three-time chief minister, who is said to be very close to the Congress chief and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Rahul Gandhi told his party's top leadership in the Congress Working Committee on Saturday that he wanted to quit as Congress president and that the party should look for a "non-Gandhi" to lead it. Addressing the Congress leaders in a four-hour post-mortem of the party's drubbing, Rahul Gandhi reportedly called out leaders who had placed their sons' interest before the party and had failed to ensure wins in their own backyard.

Since then, the Congress has been trying to get Rahul Gandhi to change his mind about quitting. Officially, the party says it has "unanimously rejected" its chief's offer to resign and calls anything beyond this "speculation".

"We won't find any replacement, we won't listen to the demand," Sheila Dikshit echoed the demand of most other Congress leaders.

"We lost under Indira Gandhi too, one should not be worried," added the 81-year-old, who also lost the election from the North East Delhi constituency.

The Congress, which once ruled Delhi for three straight terms, was wiped out in the election; the BJP retained all seven parliamentary seats, repeating its 2014 score.

Across the country, the Congress was a washout in 17 states and Union territories.

Several Congress units in states, including in Delhi, have passed resolutions urging Rahul Gandhi to take back his decision to quit and instead go for a complete overhaul of the party.

Pramod Tiwari, a Congress leader, said: "Rahul Gandhi should not resign. He should instead accept people's resignation. His resignation is not a solution."

He said he had told Rahul Gandhi's sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra that whenever the Congress had been without a Gandhi family member leading it, it had been weakened. "In 1977, Congress lost and came back under Indira Gandhi's leadership. After its defeat in 1999, the Congress came back under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi," Mr Tiwari said.