Uttarakhand Congress chief resigns

Dehradun, Mar 15: Owning moral responsibility for Congress' poor performance at the recent Uttarakhand polls, Congress president Ganesh Godiyal on Tuesday resigned from his post.

In a letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Godiyal said, "As you are aware, despite your cooperation and the efforts of the state party leadership, the Congress had to face defeat. Being the PCC president, I resign from my post owning moral responsibility for it."

Godiyal claimed that he was willing resign on the day the poll verdict was out but was waiting for the high command's order. The Congress was defeated by the BJP in the Uttarakhand Assembly polls recently.

The party bagged just 19 of the 70 seats. The BJP won 47 seats.

On Tuesday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked the party's state unit chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur to resign.

The development comes two days after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) discussed threadbare the reasons for the party's debacle in these Assembly polls. The Congress failed to win in any of the states and lost Punjab to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).