Punjab Congress President Sunil Jakhar, who lost the Lok Sabha election from Gurdaspur to BJP candidate and actor Sunny Deol, on Monday sent his resignation from the post to party chief Rahul Gandhi.
In the resignation, he took moral responsibility for losing his seat and party's not so outstanding performance in the Congress-ruled state.
The Congress has won eight of the 13 seats. The Akali Dal and the BJP won two seats each while the Aam Adami Party (AAP) won one seat.
In his letter, Jakhar said he was unable to retain his seat despite the best support by the Congress President, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
"Everyone supported me fully and put in their best for me but I was unable to defend my seat. In such a scenario I cannot continue as state chief. I feet a moral responsibility to quit," said Jakhar, who lost by over 77,000 votes.
The Congress party fared poorly in the Lok Sabha polls across the country, managing to win only 52 seats across the country.
After the Lok Sabha poll debacle, Congress president Rahul Gandhi also offered to resign from his post during the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), which was declined by the party on Saturday.
The state unit presidents of the Congress in Odisha, Assam, and Madhya Pradesh have also submitted their resignations to the Congress president following the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections in their respective states.
--IANS
