Congress ‘quit list’ grows to 6 as 3 more state unit chiefs resign

NEW DELHI: Three more Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chiefs have resigned after the party’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls, taking the total number of state unit chiefs expressing their desire to quit after the May 23 verdict to six.
While Assam PCC chief Ripun Bora and Jharkhand PCC chief Ajoy Kumar sent their resignations to AICC chief Rahul Gandhi owning moral responsibility of the party’s poor performance in their respective states, Punjab PCC president Sunil Jakhar sent his resignation after losing to actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol in Gurdaspur.
Earlier, Maharashtra unit chief Ashok Chavan, Odisha PCC chief Niranajan Patnaik and UP unit chief Raj Babbar had offered to resign. Karnataka Pradesh Campaign Committee chairman H K Patil had also resigned last week.
Sources said Jakhar had mailed his resignation to Rahul on May 24.
However, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh on Monday termed Jakhar’s move “totally unnecessary”, given the “impressive performance of the party in the state” despite a BJP wave. Congress won eight of the 13 seats in the state, but Jakhar lost Gurdaspur, which he had wrested from BJP in 2017 bypoll with a huge margin.
Jharkhand Congress spokesperson Alok Dubey confirmed that Ajoy Kumar had sent his resignation to Rahul last week. However, Rahul is yet to accept the resignation. Congress, which had fought in an alliance as a Mahagathbandhan partner, won just one of the 14 seats in Jharkhand. Congress ally JMM bagged one seat while BJP won in the remaining 12.
Similarly, Bora, a Rajya Sabha MP from Assam, had written to Rahul on May 24, saying: “Whatever may be the reasons for this humiliating defeat of my party in Assam, my conscience doesn’t allow me to continue as president of the Assam PCC.” He asked the AICC chief to “relinquish” him with a “suitable replacement”.
However, Bora’s resignation has only highlighted infighting within Congress in the state where it won just three of the 14 seats. “Ripun Bora sought permission to step down. It’s all drama. If he really wanted to resign, why would he need permission to do so?” Assam PCC vice-president Dwijen Sarma said.
“Bora had lost the faith of party workers as their chief a long time ago,” said Sarma, who has been at loggerheads with a section of the party’s senior leadership after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket.
Former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, on the other hand, acknowledged the need for a structural overhaul but said it needs to go beyond the senior leadership. “Congress needs to be restructured. This applies to Assam as well.”