Two more Congress leaders have sent their resignation letters to the party leadership for the disastrous performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
Congress leader HK Patil resigned as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Campaign Committee on Friday taking responsibility for the party’s poor performance in the state, PTI reported.
“As President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Campaign Committee I had the privilege to take the policies and message of my esteemed Party to the people,” he said in a letter to Congress President Rahul Gandhi. “In view of the debacle, I feel it my moral duty to own-up the responsibility. Hence, with all humility I submit my resignation to the post.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party scored a resounding victory in Karnataka by winning 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress and its ally Janata Dal (Secular) managed to win just one seat each. An independent candidate, Sumalatha Ambareesh, who had the backing of the BJP also won a seat.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary of Madhya Pradesh, Deepak Babaria, told ANI that Chief Minister Kamal Nath has offered to resign from his post of state Congress committee president.
Congress leader Yogendra Misra resigned as the president of the district Congress committee in Amethi, ANI reported. Gandhi was defeated in Amethi, a Congress stronghold, by Union minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani by a margin of 55,120 votes.
“I’ve taken the moral responsibility for the defeat,” Misra told PTI. “Somewhere there must have been some shortcoming on our part (the local unit) and hence I’ve offered to resign. I’m yet to get any response on this from the party leadership. This is not a defeat of Rahul Gandhi or the people of Amethi, it is the defeat of democracy. The way the BJP used muscle power and money power to entice voters. They’ve spent crores here.”
On Friday, the party’s Odisha and Uttar Pradesh unit chiefs had resigned. The Congress won 52 seats of the 542 that went to polls.
There is speculation that Rahul Gandhi will also offer to resign as party president at the Congress Working Committee meeting scheduled to be held on Saturday.
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