Spate of resignations continue in Cong, Patole quits

As many as 35 office-bearers of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee resigned from their posts on Saturday continuing the spate of resignations in the party following its Lok Sabha election debacle.

All India Congress Committee leader from Maharashtra Nana Patole also joined the group of Congress office-bearers to quit following a debacle of the party in the recently-held Lok Sabha elections.

Patole had lost to Bharatiya Janata Party's Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur seat.

In a tweet Saturday, Patole wrote that he was resigning as the chairman of the Kisan Congress and 'dismissing' the unit.

A string of Congress leaders from various states have tendered their resignations in a bid to give a 'free hand' to Gandhi to restructure the party.

The Congress president himself had announced his decision to quit after the poll debacle but the Congress Working Committee (CWC) wants him to stay on.

Gandhi had reportedly expressed his disgust over some leaders of the party clinging to their positions even after the electoral defeat.

'Rahul Gandhi is firm on not withdrawing his resignation as Congress president. Loss is a collective responsibility. Hence, I am resigning from the post of chairman of Kisan Congress- AICC and dismissing Kisan Congress body. We are in the interest of the nation standing with Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party,' Patole tweeted.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Congress unit's senior vice president Ranjit Singh Judev, general secretary Aradhna Mishra Mona, vice president R P Tripathi and many others have resigned taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat, an official release of the party said.

Others who quit party posts include media coordinator Rajiv Bakshi, joint media coordinator Piyush Mishra, Onkar Nath SIngh, Amarnath Agarwal and Mukesh Singh Chauhan, Priyanka Gupta and Ashok Singh.

More resignations are likely in the party state unit, a senior party leader said.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee has nearly 100 members.

After Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to quit in the wake of the party's dismal performance in Lok Sabha polls, many leaders of state units have followed suit.

Gandhi has reiterated that there is no going back on his decision, despite requests by leaders from his party and outside to continue in the post.

Members from the UPCC who have resigned include Satish Ajmani, Shyam Kishore Shukla, Hanuman Tripathi, spokesman Dwijendra Tripathi, Shiv Pandey, Pankaj Tiwari and Manju Dixit.

Earlier, state unit chief Raj Babbar had quit after the party could win only Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh and even lost it traditional stronghold of Amethi.

Party MP Vivek Tankha quit as the chairman of the party's legal and human rights cell on Thursday and urged others to do the same to give a free hand to Rahul Gandhi to restructure the party at all levels.

Party general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh Dipak Babaria, Goa unit chief Girish Chodankar, Delhi PCC's working president Rajesh Lilothia and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee working president Ponnam Prabhakar have quit, as also a number of other office-bearers in various states.