When Rahul Gandhi decided to step down as Congress president after the poll debacle, there was sympathy in the party and even support from some for what they saw as a legitimate gesture. The mood is now turning to frustration and anger as the leadership crisis continues, with no resolution in sight five weeks later.

Senior leaders and grassroots party workers alike feel exasperated, arguing that the prolonged paralysis has caused greater damage to party morale than the drubbing at the hustings. They believe that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul can’t disown responsibility for the continuing absence of a defined leadership structure, for no alternative arrangement can have sanctity without their approval.

A senior politician who had even a week ago passionately defended Rahul’s emotional response to the unexpected poll results suggested on Friday that enough was enough.

“It has dragged on far too long; there should have been clarity by now. If Rahul Gandhi doesn’t want to continue, he and Soniaji should have ensured a replacement quickly,” he told The Telegraph.

“It’s giving an impression of surrender after the defeat. Even party workers are beginning to believe that some sort of drama or conspiracy is going on.”

Another senior leader, a former Union minister, referred to reports that Rahul had told a team from Haryana on Thursday that he lacked the authority to appoint a new state president.

“If Rahul Gandhi conveyed a sense of helplessness at the meeting, it’s unfortunate. He is the party president till another person is appointed, and he must act with full authority,” the former minister said.

“There’s no defiance in the party and the Congress Working Committee has formally authorised him to restructure the organisation. How can he say he has no authority to appoint a new state president?”

The feeling is so widespread that the message seems to have reached the leadership. A new state president, Mohan Markam, was promptly appointed in Chhattisgarh on Friday afternoon.

Further, the media release acknowledged that the Congress president had made the appointment. This marks a quiet shift from the past few days’ media releases issued by K.C. Venugopal, general secretary in charge of the organisation, which kept saying: “The AICC approves the appointment of….”

The All India Congress Committee has no such powers, and it’s a travesty of the Congress constitution to issue such releases.

While some in the Congress have taken heart from this change of tone and the Chhattisgarh appointment, others are still worried, mindful that Rahul has not yet indicated a rethink on party presidentship.

After Thursday’s meeting with Haryana leaders where no decisions were taken, Rahul will meet leaders from election-bound Maharashtra on Saturday.

Several former Youth Congress functionaries sat on a dharna at the party headquarters on Friday to press for Rahul’s continuance. However, if Rahul is looking for a compelling reason to reverse his decision, the party seems not to have done enough to persuade him, unlike the high-voltage drama and massive mobilisations witnessed in favour of the family in the past.

Conversations at various levels in the party are slowly turning bitter. “If the family has genuinely decided to stay away and hand over the reins to someone else, why did Soniaji become chairperson of the Congress Party in Parliament? Rahul could have opposed that too,” a Youth Congress official said.

“But neither does the majority in the party want to cut the family off, nor is the family ready to loosen control. So, the deadlock should be broken without delay.”

A Rajya Sabha MP argued: “Rahul has often said he is not in politics for power. Why then did he get so rattled by the defeat? The country is passing through a crisis and the people are yearning to see a robust display of political resistance to the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine.”

He cited how “one sparkling speech by a first-time MP, Trinamul’s Mahua Moitra, has been lapped up by the entire country”.

“That shows the hunger among the people, who are still worried about the fate of the idea of India and the scope for secular politics in the country. The people as well as the Opposition parties expect Rahul to assume that responsibility. He has let them down.”

Another Rajya Sabha member said: “A true leader can’t run away in a crisis. He offered to resign taking moral responsibility for the defeat. That was a legitimate response as accountability is necessary. But when the party, in one voice and at different forums, rejected that offer, he should have accepted the challenge to rebuild the party.

“The way all the forces have rallied behind him despite such a debilitating defeat is unprecedented and surprising. He can’t fritter the goodwill away.”

The majority sentiment in the party is that Rahul should have dissolved the Congress Working Committee, state units and the AICC departments and completed the restructuring by now.

Many feel that a brainstorming session or an AICC meeting should have been convened to discuss the future road map at least two months before the next round of state elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir. Instead, they regret, paralysis endures and confusion reigns.