Rahul Gandhi resigns as leader of India’s opposition Congress

India’s Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday resigned as president of the main opposition Congress, taking responsibility for the party’s second-straight landslide defeat to right-wing Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi in national elections.

“Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress president,” he said in a statement posted on his official Twitter account.

In his resignation letter, which he tweeted on Wednesday, he took responsibility for the party’s defeat in the recent general election.

He had already announced his intention to resign, but party leaders had hoped to change his mind.

Mr Gandhi’s father, grandmother and great grandfather were all former prime ministers.

In the letter he added that while he had no “hatred or anger” towards India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), “every living cell in my body instinctively resists their idea of India” which he said was based on differences and hatred.

Gandhi, who was seeking to become the fourth member of his family dynasty to become prime minister, had been Congress president since December 2017.

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