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

Congress Kisan cell chief Nana Patole and party Secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Tarun Kumar 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 Congress' dismal performance of in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

A number of senior leaders in the Uttar Pradesh Congress too have submitted their resignations on Saturday in support of Rahul Gandhi.

Former Congress MP Patole, who headed the KIsan cell of the party, 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 Tarun Kumar too stepped down from his post and sent his resignation to the party chief.

Among those who have resigned in Uttar Pradesh are 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, spokesmen Dujendra Tripathi, Virendra Madan, Brijendra Singh and Pankaj Tiwari.

The leaders stepped down from their respective 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 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 President.

On Thursday, Chairman of Congress' law and RTI cell Vivek Tankha 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.

( With inputs from IANS )