Poll debacle: UPCC members quit taking responsibility

As many as 35 office-bearers of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee resigned from their posts on Saturday, continuing the spate of resignations in the party following its debacle in the Lok Sabha election.

The state unit's senior vice president Ranjit Singh Judev, general secretary Aradhna Misra Mona, vice president RP Tripathi and many others have resigned, taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat, an official release of the party said.

Others who quit party posts include media coordinator Rajiv Bakshi, joint media coordinator Piyush Mishra, Onkar Nath Singh, Amarnath Agarwal, Mukesh Singh Chauhan, Priyanka Gupta and Ashok Singh.

More resignations are likely in the party state unit, a senior party leader said. The UPCC has nearly 100 members.

After Congress president Rahul Gandhi announced his decision to quit in the wake of the party's dismal performance in the Lok Sabha polls, many leaders of state units have followed suit.

Gandhi has reiterated that there is no going back on his decision, despite requests by leaders from his party and outside to continue in the post.

Members from the UPCC who have resigned include Satish Ajmani, Shyam Kishore Shukla, Hanuman Tripathi, spokesman Dwijendra Tripathi, Shiv Pandey, Pankaj Tiwari and Manju Dixit. Earlier, state unit chief Raj Babbar had quit after the party could win only Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh and even lost its traditional stronghold of Amethi.

Party MP Vivek Tankha quit as the chairman of the party's legal and human rights cell on Thursday and urged others to do the same to give a free hand to Rahul Gandhi to restructure the party at all levels.

Party general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh Dipak Babaria, Goa unit chief Girish Chodankar, Delhi PCC's working president Rajesh Lilothia and Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee working president Ponnam Prabhakar have quit, as have a number of other office-bearers in various states.