Coming along expected lines, the Congress on Saturday re-elected party chief Sonia Gandhi as its parliamentary party (CPP) chairperson. While Sonia — who admitted that the Congress failed to gauge public anger — sought to boost the sagging morale of the party MPs due to the humiliating defeat in the lok Sabha elections, she also sought to put the House in order by asking them to focus on providing inputs on strengths and weaknesses rather than public acrimony.

In the meanwhile, former Union Minister Milind Deora and ex-Mumbai MP Priya Dutt came under fire from party leaders for questioning the role of Rahul advisers as well as “those who take the advice”.With the Congress reduced to just 44 MPs, it doesn’t even qualify for the leader of the Opposition post. As the UPA partners have also felt voters’ heat, the CPP has expressed hope that all “progressive and secular forces will coordinate in Parliament effectively to project a cohesive and united Opposition”.

With Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi not keen to don the leader of the Opposition mantle, outgoing Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath is likely to be the Congress’ choice for the post. Sonia and Rahul are said to be averse to taking up the post of leader of Opposition.The AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi said, “There is a tradition of election in CPP. After Sonia Gandhi’s election as CPP chairperson, she can now appoint the leader of the House and the Chief Whip in lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,” Dwivedi said.

Names of senior leaders AK Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad are being talked of in the party circles as leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, which means they would be sent to the Upper House. The party has already made it clear that any change for the post of the party’s leader in Rajya Sabha, where outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was occupying it, will be made only after consulting him. Speaking separately, Kamal Nath said Sonia must take up the post of leader of Opposition lok Sabha, in the event of Rahul not taking it up.

Amidst a direct attack on Rahul and his team and also the outgoing PM, Sonia said the party “adequately failed to gauge” people’s perception and thus “we have to individually and collectively draw the appropriate lessons from this unprecedented setback”.Sonia who was made the CPP chief for the fifth time in a row since 1998, asked the partymen to take strength from the fact that Congress came second with 10.69 crore votes compared to BJP’s 17.16 crore votes.

While the CPP offered its good wishes to the incoming government led by Narendra Modi, it also appreciated the outgoing Prime Minister for providing wise, sober and dignified leadership for a decade.

But at the same time she also blamed BJP for “failing” to give support to the Government in the last lok Sabha to pass several crucial bills. “We shall wait and see what will be the attitude of the new government to the pending bills. Though the strength of the party in the lok Sabha might be small we are still the largest in Rajya Sabha and together CPP can function as a formidable Opposition,” Sonia said.

Opening a broadside against the critics of Rahul Gandhi within the party,  party general secretary Digvijay Singh said: “Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan. The same people, who are now speaking out were, before May 16, very comfortable with all those whom they are speaking against now. They are young people. They have not seen defeat. So they will learn from the defeat.” Youth Congress president Rajiv Satav, who is one of two party MPs who won from Congress in Maharastra reminded the leaders taking on Rahul that at least they could have at least protected their own seat.

Meanwhile, amid strong voices to bring Priyanka Gandhi to the forefront of politics, senior leaders AK Antony and Kamal Nath reposed faith in the leadership of Sonia and Rahul. “They are our topmost leaders. They will remain as our leaders. They are the undisputed leaders. Sonia Gandhi is the final authority in the party. Rahul Gandhi is second in command. They are the most accepted leaders in all sections of the party. We will overcome all these difficulties under their leadership,” Antony said. Reacting to questions on Priyanka leadership role, Antony said she is part of the Congress party.