Published 12:15 IST, May 28th 2019
Here's the list of all the Congress leaders who have resigned after party's devastating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections 2019
Even as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is pondering on the resignation of its chief Rahul Gandhi who is adamant on resigning owing to the party's massive loss in the Lok Sabha elections 2019, Congress leaders across the country have forwarded their resignations taking the responsibility of the defeat in their respective state.
- India News
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Reported by: Navashree Nandini
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Even as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is pondering on the resignation of its chief Rahul Gandhi who is adamant on resigning owing to the party's massive loss in the Lok Sabha elections 2019, Congress leaders across the country have forwarded their resignations taking the responsibility of the defeat in their respective state.
Here is a list of leaders who have offered the resignation after the Congress party won 52 seats in the Lok Sabha elections compared to BJP's 303 seats.
- Rahul Gandhi - Congress president forwarded his resignation on Saturday in the first meeting of the CWC in Congress headquarters in Delhi following the party's performance in the Lok Sabha polls. However, his resignation was rejected by the CWC members. Rahul Gandhi won from Kerala's Wayanad but lost from the Gandhi bastion of Amethi against BJP's Smriti Irani by 55120 votes. Briefing the media after the meeting, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said:
"Congress president Rahul Gandhi in his address to the CWC offered his resignation which the CWC members unanimously and with one voice rejected and requested the Congress president for his guidance and leadership. CWC recommended the Congress president thorough introspection for a complete overall and a detailed re-structuring at every level. A plan about the same will come into play in the coming days. CWC will further inspect on the reasons for the same."|
- Kamal Nath - Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and MP Congress committee president Kamal Nath on May 25 offered to resign from the post of Congress state unit chief. Deepak Babaria, Congress' general secretary informed the media about that Kamal Nath who took the responsibility of the party's loss in MP where Congress won only one seat with the BJP bagging 28 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats. However, Nath skipped the Congress Working Committee meeting held in the national capital. Sources also said that there was infighting within the Congress in MP. However, Kamal Nath downplayed his offer later by saying that Babaria was speaking about his offer of resignation after the Assembly elections held last year, and not now.
- Raj Babbar - Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president sent his resignation to Rahul Gandhi on Friday, said party spokesperson Rajiv Bakshi, a day after the party won only one seat in the state. "The results are depressing for the Uttar Pradesh Congress. I find myself guilty of not discharging my responsibility in a proper manner. I will meet the leadership and apprise it of my views. Congratulations to the winners for winning the confidence of the people,” Babbar tweeted in Hindi on Friday.
- Ashok Chavan - Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ashok Chavan who himself lost the elections from Nanded, Maharashtra offered to resign on May 26. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress won only one seat in the state out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
- Niranjan Patnaik - Odisha Congress chief sent his resignation a day after the defeat on May 24. “I too had contested the election, the party had given me a responsibility, I take the moral responsibility for this debacle and relinquish this job. I’ve communicated it to my AICC President,” he said after the Congress won just one of the state’s 21 Lok Sabha seats. He had conceded defeat even before the counting by saying that in Odisha the fight is directly between BJD and BJP in the state. "We (Congress) will not be able to form the government in the state on our own. However, our performance will be better than in 2014," Patnaik told reporters during an interaction while reacting to exit polls predictions.
- Yogendra Mishra, president of district Congress Committee- Amethi, the constituency that handed out a defeat to the Gandhi, also resigned taking responsibility for the defeat. Rahul Gandhi lost Amethi to BJP’s Smriti Irani in the biggest upset of Lok Sabha election 2019. With this Amethi snapped its 39-year-old ties with the Gandhis that started in 1980 with Rahul Gandhi’s uncle Sanjay Gandhi contesting and winning this seat.
- Ajoy Kumar - Congress chief in Jharkhand, Ajoy Kumar, sent in his resignation taking moral responsibility for the party’s poor show in the state where they won just one of the state’s 14 seats. “PCC chief has taken moral responsibility of the party’s performance and sent his resignation on May 24. However, party’s performance was not that bad as we won Singhbhum comfortably and lost Khunti and Lohardaga by a thin margin,” said Jharkhand Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey.
- Ripun Bora - The other party leader to quit was Assam unit chief Ripun Bora, who in a letter to Gandhi, wrote: ““whatever may be the reasons for this humiliating defeat of my party in Assam, my conscience doesn’t allow me to continue as president of Assam PCC (Pardesh Congress committee).” Congress had won three--Kaliabor, Nagaon and Barpeta—of the 14 seats in the state.
- HK Patil - Karnataka Congress campaign committee president HK Patil also put in his papers writing to party president Rahul Gandhi. He said: "It is time for all of us to introspect. I feel it my moral duty to own up the responsibility, hence, I submit my resignation from the post." In Karnataka, the state Congress rules in coalition with the JD(S), the grand old party just manage 1 seat as compared to 9 of 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
- Deepak Babaria - Congress' general secretary in Madhya Pradesh also offered to resign taking responsibility for the party's defeat in the state.
- Sunil Jakhar - Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on May 27 also offered to resign from his post. Even after the Congress party did fairly well in the state of Punjab by winning 8 out of 13 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 polls, Sunil Jakhar lost his parliamentary constituency of Gurdaspur to newly-appointed BJP leader Sunny Deol and hence sent his resignation.
- Lalchand Kataria - Rajasthan’s Agriculture Minister Lalchand Kataria has resigned from the Congress-led state government after the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. However, there is no confirmation on the acceptance of his resignation by the Congress in the state.
- Bhakta Das - Former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das on May 25 resigned from the post of chairman of Odisha Congress Campaign Committee. Taking responsibility of Congress' debacle in the state, he said: "The result was not what we expected. Congress' election manifesto did not reach the public. Our party was not able to use modern technology for publicity. The party needs to rebuilt again."
Updated 14:05 IST, May 28th 2019