More quit as Rahul insists he’s not chief

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 28

Serial resignations began to pour in today as Rahul Gandhi made it clear to Delhi unit leaders that he was no longer Congress president and would not reconsider his decision to quit following the party’s loss in the Lok Sabha elections. He had told the same thing to Haryana Congress leaders on Thursday.

Right after today’s meeting, Delhi Congress working president Rajesh Lilothia tendered his resignation while Sheila Dikshit dissolved all 280 state-level block units. Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar also resigned, saying he could not continue after Rahul Gandhi’s firm decision not to nwithdraw his resignation. In Telangana, Congress unit working chief Ponnam Prabhakar resigned, saying Rahul must set up a new team to revive the party.

In Madhya Pradesh, CM Kamal Nath said he was willing to give up his post as state Congress chief. Only last night, Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh and head of AICC legal cell Vivek Tankha had resigned, urging Rahul to take drastic steps for party’s revival.

Another resignation today came from Madhya Pradesh general secretary of the Congress Deepak Babaria, considered close to Rahul. Head of the Congress IT and social media cell in Jharkhand Mayur Shekhar Jha also said he had quit. The spate of resignations is being seen as an attempt by the Rahul camp to force the bigger fish to quit to pave the way for Congress restructuring.

Today’s resignations came from leaders seen to be Rahul loyalists, triggering talks in the party that his camp would exert moral pressure on everyone to voluntarily quit, taking responsibility for the LS loss.

Meanwhile, Mohan Markam, an MLA in Chhattisgarh, was appointed the new state president after CM Bhupesh Baghel resigned from the post.