Sonia Gandhi Asks Cong Chiefs of Punjab, UP, Goa To Resign After Polls Debacle

This comes after the party suffered a massive loss in the Assembly elections in five states.

File image of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

(Photo: PTI)

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asked the presidents of party units in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, and Manipur to put in their resignations in order to facilitate reorganisation of the Pradesh Congress Committee in the states, a senior leader said on Tuesday, 15 March.

This comes after the party suffered a miserable defeat in the Assembly elections for the five states, whose results were declared last week.

"Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi has asked the Pradesh Congress Committees Presidents of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa & Manipur to put in their resignations in order to facilitate reorganisation of PCC’s," Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a tweet.

Among those sacked are Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Navjot Singh Sidhu, and Uttar Pradesh PCC chief Ajay Kumar Lallu. In Punjab, where the Congress government had been reigning since 2017, the party lost to the Aam Aadmi Party, with its seats seeing a drastic reduction in number from 77 to 18.

In UP, the party won merely 2 seats out of 403.

'I Take Moral Responsibility for Defeat': Uttarakhand Congress Prez Shares Resignation Letter

Shortly after the announcement, Uttarakhand Congress President Ganesh Godiyal shared his resignation letter.

"After reaching Delhi today, as soon as it came to know that the accountable office bearers of all other states, where the elections did not get the expected success, were resigning from their posts, I have also submitted my resignation. I will continue to fight as a Congress worker," he said.

"Taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat in the state assembly elections, I have submitted my resignation today. I wanted to resign on the result day itself but stayed on waiting for the order of the high command," he wrote on Twitter.

Girish Chodankar, the chief of the Goa unit of Congress, also resigned from his post on Tuesday.

The announcement comes two days after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Sunday decided that Sonia Gandhi will continue as the party president, and will make certain organisational changes in the party.

"The CWC unanimously reaffirmes its faith in the leadership of Smt Sonia Gandhi and requests the Congress President to lead from the front, address the organisational weaknesses, effect necessary & comprehensive organisational changes in order to take on the political challenges," the CWC said in a statement issued after the four-and-half-hour-long meeting.

The meeting, held at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) office in Delhi to discuss the poll debacle in five states and the current political situation, was chaired by the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi.