Hyderabad: The mass resignation of Congress leaders in Telangana state is continuing in an effort to mount pressure on Congress president Rahul Gandhi to withdraw his resignation. AICC secretary V. Hanumantha Rao and TPCC working president A. Revanth Reddy resigned from their positions on Saturday.
Mr Rao in his resignation letter said only Mr Gandhi could restore the Congress’ glory and asked him to rescind his resignation. He said that the party and not just Mr Gandhi was responsible for its poor performance in the elections.
He said he strongly believed that Mr Gandhi’s advisers misled him deliberately through everything from campaigning to selecting candidates or strengthening the party. He alleged that such advisers did so to serve either their own interests or those of their favoured leaders, and that is how they ruined the party in Telangana state.
Mr Rao said that Mr Gandhi’s advisers allowed only one section of the people to meet him while ignoring other important leaders and party loyalists. He alleged that Mr Gandhi’s advisers ran the show in Telangana state on their own accord, which is why the party lost.
Party ignore loyalists, says VHR
“It should be the prime responsibility of the general secretary for the party’s performance in his state. They should be held accountable for their actions and, to that effect, monitored to ensure they are actually visiting parts of the state they ought to visit or making efforts to strengthen the party and to check whether they’re meeting party workers or colluding with a particular group of leaders,” he said.
Mr Rao suggested that the leadership should not depend only on the picture painted by general secretaries. He added that Indira Gandhi during her term met all the party workers and leaders during Dharna Darshanam and that she always received transparent feedback about the situation at the ground level. She maintained balance in the organisation by being open not just to the general secretaries’ but also other party leaders’ perspectives.
Mr Rao alleged that the party encouraged parachute leaders and completely ignored its loyalists and senior leaders, which affected the morale of the party workers. He urged Rahul Gandhi to resist from giving up his position as Congress president and to take charge and direct the party instead.
“If you resign from your position, then I, too, will discontinue as an AICC office bearer and resign from all party positions. However, I pledge to remain a Congres-sman and a humble loyalist of the Gandhi family.”
