UPCC chief Raj Babbar sends resignation to Rahul Gandhi, Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik resigns: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik on Friday tendered resignation from his post after party’s poor show in the recently concluded 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Odisha. The move came after the Grand Old party slipped to the third post in Odisha Assembly with only 9 seats. Patnaik, who himself was contesting from Bhandaripokhari and Ghasipura, lost both the seats to BJDs Prafulla Samal and Badri Narayan Patra respectively in the ‘general elections. Patnaik tendered his resignation to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi who was defeated by BJP candidate Smriti Irani by more than fifty thousand votes from Gandhi family bastion of Amethi (UP).
Apart from Patnaik’s resignation, heads have already begun to roll in the Congress after the poll debacle in Uttar Pradesh. Taking responsibility for the party’s dismal performance in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president and Rajya Sabha member Raj Babbar sent his resignation to party chief Rahul Gandhi on Friday. In a tweet, Babbar said that he found himself guilty of not discharging his responsibility as UPCC chief in a proper manner. Congratulating the winners, the Congress leader said he will meet the party leadership and apprise it of his views.
In the 80s, Raj Babbar had contested from Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur Sikri. He lost by a margin of over 4,95,065 votes to BJP’s Rajkumar Chahar.
Karnataka Congress Campaign Committee president HK Patil has also resigned from the post. In his letter to Rahul Gandhi, Patil wrote it is time for all the Congress members to introspect and he feels it his moral duty to own up the responsibility.
Amethi district Congress Committee president Yogendra Mishra has resigned from the post taking responsibility for the defeat.
Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Karge, who was defeated by BJP’s Umesh Jadhav in Gulbarga (Karnataka) by a margin of 95,452 votes, said 2019 LS poll results were unprecedented.
