LUCKNOW: After an all-round debacle in recent state polls, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday removed the party presidents of all five states that went into the polls.
Congress won just two seats in UP, down from seven in 2017, and lost power in Punjab. It also failed to make a comeback in Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
After a brainstorming session over the results in state elections, attended by prominent party leaders from these states, Sonia the state committee chiefs in the five states to tender their resignations so that the process of “reorganisation” could be initiated.
Senior leaders called the resignations as the first step towards starting afresh for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted that the resignations were sought to “facilitate the reorganisation” of the state Congress units.
While Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu was appointed to the post only a few months ago, Uttarakhand state president Ganesh Godiyal and his Manipur counterpart Loken Singh were also appointed before assembly elections.
Gandhi has also sought the resignation of Girish Chodankar, who heads the Goa unit, and UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Lallu said: “I take full responsibility for the party’s loss in state and have tendered my resignation.
We will make fresh efforts and work harder for upcoming elections.” The meeting of state functionaries is a follow up of Congress leadership’s post-poll postmortem held on Sunday in which Sonia Gandhi offered to make the “ultimate sacrifice in the interest of the party” and step back along with her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi from any role in the leadership.
Sources confirmed that the party will also ask other functionaries in state units to put in their papers so that an elaborate re-building exercise could be undertaken. In UP, Congress won just two seats and its vote share dipped below 3%. In Punjab, Cong won just 18 seats and 23% vote share from 77 seats and 38.5% vote in 2017. “The party will hold a ‘chintan shivir’ to discuss the reasons for the debacle. Corrective steps will be launched thereafter,” said a senior spokesperson in UP
Congress won just two seats in UP, down from seven in 2017, and lost power in Punjab. It also failed to make a comeback in Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
After a brainstorming session over the results in state elections, attended by prominent party leaders from these states, Sonia the state committee chiefs in the five states to tender their resignations so that the process of “reorganisation” could be initiated.
Senior leaders called the resignations as the first step towards starting afresh for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted that the resignations were sought to “facilitate the reorganisation” of the state Congress units.
While Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu was appointed to the post only a few months ago, Uttarakhand state president Ganesh Godiyal and his Manipur counterpart Loken Singh were also appointed before assembly elections.
Gandhi has also sought the resignation of Girish Chodankar, who heads the Goa unit, and UPCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Lallu said: “I take full responsibility for the party’s loss in state and have tendered my resignation.
We will make fresh efforts and work harder for upcoming elections.” The meeting of state functionaries is a follow up of Congress leadership’s post-poll postmortem held on Sunday in which Sonia Gandhi offered to make the “ultimate sacrifice in the interest of the party” and step back along with her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi from any role in the leadership.
Sources confirmed that the party will also ask other functionaries in state units to put in their papers so that an elaborate re-building exercise could be undertaken. In UP, Congress won just two seats and its vote share dipped below 3%. In Punjab, Cong won just 18 seats and 23% vote share from 77 seats and 38.5% vote in 2017. “The party will hold a ‘chintan shivir’ to discuss the reasons for the debacle. Corrective steps will be launched thereafter,” said a senior spokesperson in UP