On July 3, Rahul Gandhi, in an open letter of resignation, declared that he will no longer be the Party President and posted a 4-page letter on Twitter to announce his decision. He asked his party members to look for his successor.
The decision invited a lot of criticism from the BJP, while the headless party drew emotional reactions to the decision.
Rahul’s Resignation Letter
“It was an honour to serve the Congress party”, Rahul Gandhi wrote in a letter that he tweeted hours after resigning.
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
The designation “President” also disappeared from his Twitter bio, which now says, “Member of Congress and Member of Parliament”.
“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,” Gandhi wrote in his letter.
“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. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress president,” the letter read.
Gandhi also highlighted his contribution in the 2019 elections. “Personally fought the prime minister, the RSS and the institutions they captured with all my being,” he said.
Resignation Spree In Solidarity
After P Vivek Tankha quit as the chairman of the Party’s Legal and Human Rights Cell and appealed to others to follow suit, a flurry of resignations was submitted. He urged others to give a free hand to Rahul Gandhi to restructure the party at all levels.
We all should submit our resignations fr party positions & give Rahul ji a free hand to choose his team. I welcome Mr Kamalnath’s statement to that effect. I unequivocally submit my resignation as AICC Dept chairman Law,RTI & HR. Party cannot afford a stalemate for too long.
— Vivek Tankha (@VTankha) June 27, 2019
State Legislative Council Leader Deepak Singh, the state unit’s Vice-President RP Tripathi, Media Coordinator Rajiv Bakshi, Joint Media Coordinator Piyush Mishra have resigned from their posts. Onkar Nath Singh, Amarnath Agarwal, Mukesh Singh Chauhan, Priyanka Gupta, Ashok Singh, Anshu Awasthi and others also submitted their resignation letters.
A letter of resignation was circulated on social media with the names and signatures of certain Congress members.
This resignation saga began after the catastrophic loss of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha 2019 Elections and also the loss of Rahul Gandhi’s stronghold in Amethi.
This happened when nobody in the party was willing to take up responsibility for the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi had raised complaints to Youth Congress leaders.
Gandhi’s Irrevocable Decision
After Congress’s defeat in three major states, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh – where the party was expecting good results, Rahul Gandhi told all the Congress Chief Ministers that he is not in a position to reconsider his decision of resigning as the Party Chief.
UPCC spokesperson Zishan Haider took to twitter and said, “Rahul Gandhi should continue as the Party President. He should identify and sack those who have made the Congress hollow in the last many years. Their resignation is just a show-off.”
The statement was posted on his official Twitter handle.
Continuous Appeals To Gandhi
The Chief Ministers of five Congress-ruled states on July 1, met Rahul Gandhi to convince him to continue as the Party Chief. But Gandhi has been reluctant and repeatedly turned down the requests.
On July 2, a Congress worker attempted suicide outside the Delhi party office to stop Rahul Gandhi from resigning as the Party President.
“We firmly believe that only he [Rahul Gandhi] can lead the party in the current scenario, his commitment towards well being of our country and countrymen is un-compromised and unmatched,” Ashok Gehlot wrote on Twitter.
We firmly believe that only he can lead the party in the current scenario, his commitment towards well being of our country and countrymen is un-compromised and unmatched.
— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) July 1, 2019
Closed door meetings became an everyday affair to discuss the potential candidates for the post of Congress President.
Some of the members in the party see Rahul’s resignation as irreparable damage, while some are speculated to be using it as an opportunity to become the next face of the Congress.
After Rahul Gandhi’s resignation surfaced, Veteran Congress leader Motilal Vora said: “Gandhi had always made efforts to strengthen the party.”
According to reports, Vora may be the interim party president. However, he has received no official information about it.
Senior Congress leader Motilal Vora on reports that he will be the interim president of the party: I have no information about this. pic.twitter.com/SE6lZP5aHi
— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2019
Rahul Gandhi urged Congress to choose a new president “quickly and without further delay” and also clarified that he was not part of the process at all after his resignation.
Also Read: Hunt For The Next Congress President: Who Will Be The Saving Grace For The Party?
