Kisan Congress head steps down, spate of resignations in UP Congress

The Congress farmers' cell chief Nana Patole, party secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Tarun Kumar and several top leaders of its Uttar Pradesh unit on Saturday stepped down from their respective posts in support of Rahul Gandhi who has decided to resign from the party President's post following the Congress' dismal performance in the recent Lok Sabha election.

Uttar Pradesh Congress leaders also requested the party chief to take back his offer of stepping down or else they would be "compelled" to take much bigger steps. 

Former Congress MP Patole, who headed the Kisan Congress, resigned from his post and dissolved the whole body of the Kisan Congress in support of Gandhi. 

Besides Patole, party secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Kumar too stepped down from his post and sent his resignation to the party chief. 

Among those who have resigned in Uttar Pradesh are Deepak Singh, Leader of the Congress legislative party, Aradhana Misra, deputy leader of the Congress legislative party, senior Vice President Ranjit Singh Judeo, Vice President R.P. Tripathi, General Secretaries Satish Ajmani, Shyam Kishore Shukla and Hanuman Tripathi, and spokesmen Dujendra Tripathi, Virendra Madan, Brijendra Singh and Pankaj Tiwari.

Announcing his resignation on twitter, Deepak Singh said, "If Rahul Gandhi is adamant on stepping down from the post then holding the posts is of no meaning. I am giving my resignation from all the responsibilities, Leader of Congress in Legislature Assembly and from my post in UP Congress party. I request you to take your resignation back, or else we would be compelled to take much bigger steps." 

The leaders stepped down from their posts to show their support for Gandhi in order to pave the way for a revamp of the Congress.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) President Raj Babbar had submitted his resignation soon after the Lok Sabha results came in and the Congress suffered its worst ever defeat in Uttar Pradesh, winning just one out of the state's 80 seats.

The Congress on Friday had dissolved all the 280 block committees in the national capital, even as over 140 party leaders at different levels from several states tendered their resignations in support of the party chief.

On Thursday, the Chairman of Congress' law and RTI cell Vivek Tankha also stepped down, urging Gandhi to revive the party as "a fighting force".

On Monday, the Congress had dissolved all the district committees in Uttar Pradesh, saying that it would form a three-member disciplinary committee to look into the "gross anti-party activities" that took place during the Lok Sabha polls. 

On June 19, the Congress had dissolved the Karnataka Congress committee, sparing the state unit chief and the party's state in-charge. IANS