New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi insisted on resigning on Saturday over the Congress’s national election debacle and the party unanimously rejected it in the time-honoured tradition of an organization that has rarely looked beyond the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The Congress, shell-shocked with its 52-seat haul – only a few more than its historic low of 44 in 2014 – stuck to the template as it responded to its party president Rahul Gandhi’s mea culpa in the post-mortem by the party’s top decision-making body. Party leaders praised the 48-year-old and authorized him to reorganize the party, say sources.
State unit chiefs, instead, owned responsibility for the rout.
“Rahul Gandhi alone is not responsible for the loss. Every state chief should present their resignations to the party president. I am also ready to resign so that the new team can take over,” said Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan.
In this election, both Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaigned extensively across the country. The end result was a bigger disaster for the party than ever. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP and its allies won a spectacular mandate of over 350 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha to continue for a second term.
Rahul Gandhi’s nationwide campaign circling around his “Chowkidar Chor Hai” barb for PM Modi failed to capture the public imagination or even translate into votes.
The Congress was a washout in 17 states and union territories and couldn’t do any better even in the three heartland states it won just in December. The party won two seats in Chhattisgarh, one in Madhya Pradesh and none in Rajasthan.
Even Priyanka Gandhi’s launch into the Uttar Pradesh battle couldn’t salvage the Congress, which has always seen the younger Gandhi sibling as its force multiplier, its ultimate weapon. Despite her aggressive campaign in UP and her direct attacks on the PM, the Congress ended up with only one seat – Sonia Gandhi’s Raebareli – of the state’s 80 constituencies. The Prime Minister won from his seat Varanasi by a margin of over 4.7 lakh votes.
Rahul Gandhi, who lost even his traditional Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to the BJP’s Smriti Irani – the win in Kerala’s Wayanad was small consolation – had told reporters on Thursday that he accepted “100 per cent” responsibility for the debacle. Asked whether he would resign, the Congress chief said: “Let that be between me and the Working Committee.”
In 2014, then Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi – who led the campaign as party vice president – had both offered to quit after the party plunged to a historic low of 44 seats. But the Congress, which has always been devoted to the Nehru-Gandhi family, rejected the offer and assumed “collective responsibility”.
Murmurs against the leadership are louder this time.
Three state chiefs of the party have already sent their resignations, which means additional pressure on their boss to take the onus.
In a tweet on Thursday, Raj Babbar had owned responsibility for the Congress’s disaster in Uttar Pradesh. “The results are depressing for the Uttar Pradesh Congress. I find myself guilty of not discharging my responsibility in a proper manner,” he had tweeted.
