Sonia, Rahul offer to resign from Congress posts after defeat, party refuses

 

New Delhi, 19 May 2014 (TOI): Congress president Sonia and vice-president Rahul Gandhi offered to resign from their party posts following its drubbing in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha election. However, party members have refused to accept their resignation.

 

Former Punjab CM and senior Congress leader Amrinder Singh said, "Sonia and Rahul offered to resign, but the Congress Working Committee rejected it."

 

Earlier on Monday, Ahmed Patel, Sonia’s Gandhi’s political secretary said "all, including myself, are responsible for the party’s loss."

 

"How can you blame any individual for this result? It is the collective responsibility of both the party and the government. All, including myself, are responsible for the party’s loss," Patel has said in the wake of resentment in the party at the way Rahul ran the election campaign.

 

Sonia and Rahul appeared before the media on Friday and took personal responsibility for the drubbing that left the party with just 44 seats in a House of 543, a huge climbdown from 206 seats it had in the outgoing 15th Lok Sabha.

 

Meanwhile, party leader Manish Tewari said the resignation of the party leadership in the wake of the poll debacle is not the way forward.