India, June 12 -- Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said that regional parties that separated from Congress should rejoin its fold, a day after Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut suggested that a merger should be headed by Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Sharad Pawar.

"All those parties that became regional parties after separating from Congress should rejoin, and they should wholeheartedly accept Rahul Gandhi as the leader," Gehlot said while speaking to reporters.

His remarks follow after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut urged for a merger of regional parties with the Congress.

Raut, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said that parties like the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and NCP (SP)...