‘Sonia, Rahul may offer resignation’

Both leaders have made brief statements to the media after their party’s debacle on Friday

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi may offer to resign, reports Indian television station NDTV.

The report came a day after they both accepted responsibility for the party’s worst performance ever in the national election.

The report says, according to the party sources, they are likely to make the offer at a meeting on Monday of the Congress Working Committee, the party’s top decision-making body.

India’s oldest party was reduced to double digits in Parliament and failed to win a single seat in 10 states, as a long and grueling campaign by Rahul Gandhi failed to stop the tide of public anger.

On Friday, both leaders made brief statements to the media after their party’s debacle.

Narendra Modi’s BJP has won 282 seats, enough to form the government on its own; with its allies it has 337 seats.

In contrast, the Congress, which ruled for two terms, is struggling to reach the one-fifth mark needed to have a Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most politically vital state with 80 seats, the Congress won only two seats, those of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. The BJP and its allies won 73 seats.

Source: Dhaka Tribune