Several leaders of Congress resigned from their party posts on Friday to give party chief Rahul Gandhi a free hand to choose a new team in view of the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, NDTV reported.
On Thursday, Congress leader Vivek Tankha quit as the party’s chairperson for law and RTI cell. A day later, working presidents of Delhi and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committees, General Secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh Deepak Babaria, All India Congress Committee Secretaries Virender Rathore, Anil Choudhury, Rajesh Dharmani and Foreign Cell Secretary Virender Vashist resigned.
Tankha resigned on Thursday, saying the party cannot “afford a stalemate for too long”. “Rahul ji please make drastic changes to revive the party as a fighting force,” Tankha said on Twitter. “U have the commitment [and] determination. Just cobble a good, acceptable [and] influential nation wide team. I am with you in all situations.”
Gandhi had offered to resign from the party’s top post on May 25 after the party won only 52 out of 543 Parliamentary seats. However, the Congress Working Committee had unanimously rejected his resignation, but Gandhi has remained firm on stepping down.
A resignation letter circulating on social media showed signatures of over 80 leaders, including secretaries, youth Congress leaders and Mahila Congress office bearers, reported India Today. The letter read: “I would like to immediately resign from my post in respect and honour of Rahul Gandhi.”
Meanwhile, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President Sheila Dikshit dissolved all the 280 block Congress committees in Delhi “with immediate effect”. Earlier this week, the Congress had dissolved all district committees of its Uttar Pradesh unit and formed a three-member disciplinary committee to look into gross indiscipline and anti-party activities during the Lok Sabha elections.
Amid the crisis, veteran Congress leader Veerappa Moily said said there was not even 1% possibility of Gandhi continuing as party president, PTI reported.
“Anything can happen,” the former Union minister told the news agency. “Today, I don’t... [think there] may be even one per cent [possibility] of his (Gandhi’s) coming back. The CWC [Congress Working Committee] will definitely meet before they consider any other name. Unless his resignation is accepted by CWC, speculations and his assertions will go on.”
On appeal by some Congress leaders to let Priyanka Gandhi take over the reins of the party, Moily said: “I would like to wait for the CWC to take appropriate next step.”
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