Kamal Nath offers resignation from post of MPCC president, several party leaders deny report

After a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, murmurs have already started within the Congress over taking responsibility for the party’s poor performance across the country, with some of its leaders already sending in their resignations. The latest addition to the list is Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, who offered to resign from the post of state Congress committee president this evening. Nath sent his resignation to Congress president Rahul Ganhdi.

Speaking to news agency ANI, AICC General Secretary for Madhya Pradesh, Deepak Babaria confirmed the news, saying "CM Kamal Nath has offered his resignation from the post of Madhya Pradesh Congress committee President".

AICC General Secretary Deepak Babaria of MP: CM Kamal Nath has offered his resignation from the post of Madhya Pradesh Congress committee President. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/1iuHpAjYrE

— ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2019

However, Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja has denied the report, terming it "misleading and false". Speaking to reporters Saluja said, "the reports of Kamal Nathji's resignation from the post of Madhya Pradesh Congress committee president is misleading and false.

Congress leader Shobha Oza also refuted the same, saying all the news, related to Kamal Nath's resignation, circulated in the media are baseless, misleading and untrue. "Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress President Mr Kamal Nath has not resigned. All the news related to his resignation, published and circulated in the media are completely baseless, misleading and untrue," Oza tweeted in Hindi.

मध्यप्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री एवं प्रदेश कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष श्री कमलनाथ जी ने अध्यक्ष पद से इस्तीफा नहीं दिया है। इस्तीफे की पेशकश के संबंध में जो भी खबरें मीडिया व सोशल मीडिया में प्रकाशित व प्रसारित हो रही हैं, वह सभी पूरी तरह से आधारहीन, भ्रामक व असत्य हैं ।@INCIndia @OfficeOfKNath

— Shobha Oza (@Shobha_Oza) May 25, 2019

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar and Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik announced their resignations from the post in the wake of the party's electoral debacle in their respective states.

Babbar sent his resignation to Rahul Gandhi after he lost Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur Sikri parliamentary seat to BJP's Rajkumar Chahar by a margin of 4,95,065 votes. The Congress has managed to win only the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency of Sonia Gandhi out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Rahul Gandhi himself lost in the politically crucial Amethi to senior BJP leader Smriti Irani.

Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik said, "I have sent my resignation to AICC President (Rahul Gandhi) owning moral responsibility for the party's poor show in both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state". Congress won only one Lok Sabha seat and nine assembly seats in the eastern state.

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Speaculations have been also rife that Karnataka Congress leader HK Patil, who was tasked to oversee the Karnataka Congress campaign in December, has quit taking moral responsibility.

In the wake of the Congress's dismal performance, the party, early in the day, convened the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in order to assess the reasons behind party’s disastrous defeat in this Lok Sabha elections. During the meet, Rahul Gandhi also tendered his resignation from the post of party president, which was unanimously rejected by the CWC members, saying that the party needs his leadership.

The Congress suffered a loss for the second time in a row at the hands of the Narendra Modi led BJP. It bagged only 52 seats out of the 542 Lok Sabha seats this election.