Congress president Rahul Gandhi may offer his resignation tomorrow (Saturday, May 25) at a meeting of Congress Working Committee to deliberate on the second successive debacle in Lok Sabha polls.<\/p>\n
According to reports in a section of media, murmurs have already started within the party over taking responsibility for the poor performance of the Congress across the country, with some of its leaders already sending in their resignations.<\/p>\n
The Congress won only 52 seats this time, drawing a blank in as many as 19 states. Once again, the Congress would fail to get the post of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha for its leader as in 2014 when it had got only 44 seats.<\/p>\n
The party has reportedly convened a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, its highest decision making body, at 11 AM on Saturday and Rahul Gandhi is likely to offer his resignation at the meet, party sources said, reported The Indian Express (IE).<\/p>\n
Also Read:\u00a0Smriti Irani busts Gandhi bastion, myth of invincibility<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Top party leaders, including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi<\/a> and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are expected to attend the meeting.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Gandhi said he took \u201c100 per cent responsibility\u201d for the defeat. Asked whether he would quit, he said: \u201cLet that be between the Working Committee and me.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2014, too, then Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi \u2013 who led the campaign as party vice president \u2013 had both offered to quit after the party plunged to a historic low of 44 seats. The Congress, which has always been devoted to the Nehru-Gandhi family, rejected the offer.<\/p>\n Murmurs against the leadership are louder this time, say reports. \u201cIf they want to change anything, change the leadership,\u201d news agency Reuters quoted an unnamed Congress leader from Rajasthan as saying.<\/p>\n There have already been voices within to introspect on why the party failed to reach out to the people.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, there have been some resignation from state chiefs. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar and Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik announced their resignations from the post owning responsibility for the party’s defeat in their respective states.<\/p>\n Also Read:\u00a0Narendra Modi sweeps back to power, Opposition fails to put up a fight in most states<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n In UP, it managed to win only the Rae Bareli constituency of Sonia Gandhi out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Rahul Gandhi<\/a> himself lost from his family bastion Amethi to senior BJP leader Smriti Irani.<\/p>\n Babbar, who contested from Fatehpur Sikri, was defeated by a margin of 4,95,065 votes by BJP’s Rajkumar Chahar.<\/p>\n \u201cThe results are depressing for the Uttar Pradesh Congress. I find myself guilty of not discharging my responsibility in a proper manner,\u201d Babbar tweeted in Hindi. \u201cI will meet the leadership and apprise it of my views. Congratulations to the winners for winning the confidence of the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said: \u201cI have sent my resignation to AICC President (Rahul Gandhi) owning moral responsibility for the party’s poor show in both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state. While the Congress faced defeat in the state, I too lost at the hustings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Patnaik said \u201cthe party needs to take concrete steps to set the organisation in proper shape by getting rid of opportunists and attracting youths into its fold.\u201d He said that he had tried his best to bolster the party’s poll prospects.<\/p>\n Patnaik said a committee, headed by senior leader Narasingha Mishra, has been set up to ascertain the reasons behind the drubbing suffered by the Congress in Odisha.<\/p>\n Congress won only one Lok Sabha seat and nine assembly seats in the eastern state.<\/p>\nResignation of state leaders<\/strong><\/h3>\n