Rahul Gandhi confirmed in a letter posted on Twitter that he had stepped down as president of the Congress, taking responsibility for the party’s second successive defeat in a national election. He said the Congress Working Committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, should meet soon and settle on a new chief.

What the letter said

The letter came a few hours after he told reporters he was no longer party president. In it, he described leading the party as “an honour to serve the Congress party” and argued that rebuilding it would require tough decisions, with a number of people held to account for the 2019 failure. He wrote that it would be unfair to blame others while overlooking his own responsibility as president.

He said most colleagues had asked him to name his successor, but that it would not be right for him to pick that person. Instead, he had asked a group of leaders to search for a new president and would stay out of the process. The 49-year-old also called for “radical change” in the party.

Gandhi said he had personally fought the Prime Minister, the RSS and the institutions they had captured, and that the Prime Minister’s victory did not erase the corruption allegations against him. He said he bore no hatred towards the BJP but rejected its idea of India, questioned whether the 2019 election had a free press, an independent judiciary and a transparent Election Commission, and claimed the RSS had achieved its aim of capturing the country’s institutions.

Background

Gandhi took over the party leadership from his mother, Sonia Gandhi, in 2017. He had offered to quit on May 25, days after the Congress won just 52 of 543 Lok Sabha seats against the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also lost his own seat of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, which he had held since 2004. After the letter, the president’s title disappeared from his Twitter profile.

Party sources said a new president would be chosen within a week, a sign that the party was accepting he might not return. That opened the possibility of a leader from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family heading a party that has mostly been led by the family in its 133-year history. A string of resignations by Congress office-bearers across the country followed his decision, while some leaders, including Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, urged him to stay on and lead.

What happened next

Rahul Gandhi’s resignation as Congress president came in July 2019, and Sonia Gandhi became interim Congress president in August 2019. Mallikarjun Kharge was later elected party president in October 2022.

See also: Indian National Congress | Election news

Originally published on 3 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us