New Delhi, May 30 (TIWN): The huge crowd that had gathered outside 10, Janpath in the summer of 2004, and the emotional scenes that unfolded there, pleading with Sonia Gandhi to withdraw her decision to not become the Prime Minister, is stuff of Congress folklore.

Compared to that, there has not been any spontaneous outpouring of emotions now that Rahul Gandhi has indicated that he does not want to continue as Congress president. One gets to hear that even the solidarity gathering outside his residence today had to be organised. Even then, it wasn t much of a turnout. A senior Congress leader is learnt to have sent out messages to many state leaders to organise such street gatherings in their states as a show of solidarity with Rahul. Neither Rahul nor Priyanka Gandhi Vadra today met former Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, who had gone inside the residence, or the Congress workers sloganeering outside.