Rahul Gandhi ‘sacrifices' his seat as President of the Congress, a party in disarray

• Rahul Gandhi shared a letter on Twitter to announce his resignation as the Congress party President.
• He said that he doesn’t want to choose the next President and that the party should form a group of workers who will choose the next leader.
• Gandhi had shared his resignation with the Congress Working Committee soon after the loss of the general elections.

Rahul Gandhi today took to Twitter to share his resignation from the Indian National Congress, a party that was his family legacy. Gandhi said that as the president of the INC, he was responsible for the loss of the 2019 elections.

Gandhi had first submitted his resignation to the Congress Working Committee right after the party lost general elections in May, to Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

His resignation was not accepted by the CWC. Gandhi has been requesting the party to relieve him, with no avail.

Sacrificing the Desire

Today Gandhi firmly put his foot down, saying he is no longer the president of the party in a letter on Twitter.

“It is a habit in India that the powerful cling to power, no one sacrifices power. But we will not defeat our opponents without sacrificing the desire for power and fighting a deeper ideological battle,”

He also said that a new head should be chosen within a week.

“Rebuilding the party requires hard decisions and numerous people will have to be made accountable for the failure of 2019. It would be unjust to hold others accountable but ignore my own responsibility as the President of the party,” he said in a letter he shared.

While saying that the Congress party is woven into the fabric of the country, Gandhi refused to select the next head. “While it is important for someone new to lead our party, it would not be correct for me to select that person.”

Gandhi who spearheaded many fights including possible price escalation of Rafale fighter aircraft which was purchased by India from France.

In the letter, Gandhi said that every living cell in his body instinctively resists their (the BJP’s) idea of India. “I personally fought the Prime Minister, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the institutions they have captured, with all my being. At times, I stood alone and I am completely proud of it,” he wrote.

In June, as many as 145 office bearers of the Congress too quit the party.

A lot of Congress workers along with political pundits blamed the party’s aggressive campaigning against the Modi government. One of the points of the campaigns was ‘Chowkidaar chor hai’ (Modi referred to as gatekeeper is a thief) too did not sound off well with the public as the ruling National Democratic Alliance led by Modi came back to power with 353 seats.

Rahul Gandhi entered politics in 2004, when his mother Sonia Gandhi was the head of the party. Before that, he obtained a doctorate from Trinity College in Cambridge and had worked with a consulting firm in London before joining politics in India.