New Delhi: Shortly after Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president, the party appointed Motilal Vora as interim party chief. The party has, however, not made any official statement in this regard as yet.
After days of delay delaying, Gandhi earlier today put in his papers and posted his resignation letter on Twitter. The Congress leader had been insisting on stepping down from the post of Congress chief since the drubbing in the recently-held Lok Sabha elections. However, several senior leaders tried to convince him to continue as party chief.
Taking responsibility for the election defeat, Gandhi said that he would continue to fight the ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In his four-page resignation letter, Gandhi said it had been an “honour” to serve the Congress Party. “I owe the country and my organisation a debt of tremendous gratitude and love,” Gandhi wrote in his tweet alongside the copy of his resignation letter.
It is an honour for me to serve the Congress Party, whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation.
I owe the country and my organisation a debt of tremendous gratitude and love.
Jai Hind 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/WWGYt5YG4V
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 3, 2019
Gandhi clarified that he had quit the top post as he held himself accountable for the Congress’ humiliating defeat in the general elections at the hands of the BJP.
“As President of the Congress party, I am responsible for the loss of the 2019 election. Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party,” the Congress leader wrote in the letter.
Before sharing his resignation letter on social media, Gandhi stated that he was no longer the party chief and said that the Congress Working Committee should elect a new party president “without further delay.”
“Party should decide on the new president quickly without further delay, I’m nowhere in this process. I have already submitted my resignation and I am no longer the party president. CWC should convene a meeting at the earliest and decide,” Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Monday, Gandhi had met chief ministers of all Congress-ruled states, including Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath, Puducherry CM V Narayansamy and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel.
requested Rahul to reconsider his decision of resigning as Congress chief. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Gehlot had said that all the Congress CMs had asked Gandhi to continue as the party chief and to oversee a complete overhaul of the party.
“We conveyed to him the feelings of our party workers and leaders. We hope that he will pay heed to our views and do the right thing,” Gehlot had said.
The Congress managed to win only 52 seats out of the 542 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections, while the BJP registered a landslide victory by bagging 303 seats.
