Faced with growing rebellion against him from State legislators after the lok Sabha poll debacle, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is likely to tender his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.
As many as 45 of the 78 Congress MlAs, considered to be from the camp opposing Gogoi’s leadership, on Wednesday sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi. Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is reportedly leading the anti-Gogoi campaign.
Gogoi, who has been Assam Chief Minister (CM) since 2001, has sought an appointment with Sonia Gandhi for Thursday, but said that he was not sure whether the party president would accept the resignation.
After the Congress got its lowest-ever tally in Assam - three out of 14 lok Sabha seats - in the recently concluded lok Sabha elections, Gogoi last Friday said he would resign within a week “owing moral responsibility.”
When asked why he did not submit his resignation to the State Governor if he was serious, Gogoi said it was the party’s tradition to submit the resignation letter to the Congress chief. “I have sought an appointment to meet the Congress president to submit my resignation to her,” Gogoi said.
Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the MlAs in the ClP meeting on Wednesday discussed the cause for the Congress’ poor show in the polls. “We discussed the causes of our party’s defeat. On this basis we resolved to send a letter to Sonia Gandhi tomorrow to give her a picture of the situation and suggest corrective measures.
Forty five MlAs have signed the letter and four/five more will also sign on Thursday. But we are not indulging in number game,” Sarma said in Guwahati.While Gogoi has taken the lead in initiating the fixing of “accountability” as professed by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi during the CWC meeting early this week, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has ruled out resignation saying it was the party’s defeat and hence he did not owe any moral responsibility.
“Why should I resignIJ I do not think it is a moral responsibility to resign because issues involved were beyond my control,” Singh told reporters. The Congress lost all four seats in the hill State including Mandi from where Singh’s wife Pratibha was the party candidate and sitting MP.
Noting that the defeat of party candidates including his wife was “unfortunate”, Singh said people voted for Narendra Modi and not the BJP and that the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate had “begun his organised campaign earlier”. His statement is seen as a veiled admission that the Congress campaign led by Rahul Gandhi began late. He said many factors led to the party’s defeat including the fact that “people were yearning for a change at the national level”.