UP Cong chief resigns after Sonia tells 5 PCC heads to step down

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu on Tuesday resigned from his post after taking moral responsibility for the party's humiliating defeat in the state assembly polls.

The move comes after Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked the chiefs of its Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur units to resign amid continued rumblings in the party following its abject loss in the assembly elections in these states.

"I Ajay Kumar Lallu, president, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee want to apprise that the assembly elections have been held in the state in the last few days and all UPCC office bearers worked hard with devotion and took the organisation at village level. We fought against the wrong policies of the government from time to time," Lallu said in a letter to Sonia Gandhi.

"But we had to face unexpected defeat in this election. Taking moral responsibility for this defeat, I am resigning from the responsibility of the president post," he said.

Lallu, who lost from Tamkuhi Raj seat, said he will work with full devotion for the party.

"Trusting a common worker like me, you all made me the President of Uttar Pradesh Congress, for this I will be grateful throughout my life, I will always work with full devotion for the party," the letter stated.

Earlier in the day, Sonia Gandhi asked its state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to put in their papers after the party's drubbing in the just-concluded assembly polls in five states.

The development comes two days after the Congress Working Committee discussed threadbare the reasons for the party's debacle in the assembly polls. The Congress failed to win in any of the states and lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party.

"Congress President, Smt Sonia Gandhi has asked the PCC presidents of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur to put in their resignations in order to facilitate reorganisation of PCCs," chief spokesperson of the party Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.

While Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu was appointed to the post only a few months ago, the Uttarakhand unit president of the party, Ganesh Godiyal, and his Manipur counterpart Loken Singh were also appointed before the assembly elections.

Gandhi has also sought the resignation of Girish Chodankar, who heads the Goa unit of the party, and Uttar Pradesh PCC president Ajay Kumar Lallu.

"After reaching Delhi on Tuesday, as soon as I came to know that the party has asked for accountability and the resignation of the office-bearers of all the states where it lost elections, I have also submitted my resignation. I will continue to fight as a Congress worker," Godiyal said in a tweet in Hindi.

In a letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Godiyal said, "As you are aware, despite your cooperation and the efforts of the state party leadership, the Congress had to face defeat. Being the PCC president, I resign from my post owning moral responsibility for it."

Godiyal said he was ready to resign on the day the poll verdict was out but was waiting for the high command's order.

Sources said the Congress chief will reconstitute the state units.

The CWC, in its marathon meeting, had asked the Congress president to initiate necessary changes in the organisation in order to strengthen it.

"The CWC unanimously reaffirms its faith in the leadership of Smt Sonia Gandhi and requests the Congress president to lead from the front, address the organisational weaknesses, effect necessary and comprehensive organisational changes in order to take on the political challenges," it had said after the meeting.