Shivanagowda Rudragowda Patil, the working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, resigned from his post. He had tendered his resignation to party chief Rahul Gandhi on 25 May but the news of his decision has emerged only now.
According to The New Indian Express, Patil, a Lingayat leader, resigned taking moral responsibility for the Congress’ poor show in the recently concluded Karnataka Assembly Elections, especially the debacle in north Karnataka – where he was the in-charge.
Expressing his regret over not conjuring up enough numbers to enable his party to form a government on its own, Patil said that he sent his resignation via email to Gandhi.
Patil, who is an MLC, added that he is not quitting the party and will be willing to take up any role he is assigned.
Reacting to the resignation, the BJP took a jibe at the coalition government led by the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) claiming that “downfall of the empire” has begun.
“The downfall of the empire that was built after mocking people’s mandate has begun. @INCKarnataka senior leader Sri. S R Patil resigns. This is only the beginning of the downfall of power hungry government,” a tweet on the official handle of BJP Karnataka read.
The downfall of the empire that was built after mocking people’s mandate has begun. @INCKarnataka senior leader Sri. S R Patil resigns. This is only the beginning of the downfall of power hungry government.
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) June 3, 2018
The BJP is the main opposition party in the state despite emerging as the single-largest party in the elections.
Though the Congress formed a government in the state with HD Kumaraswamy’s JD(S), many senior Congress leaders are unhappy over not being allotted ministerial berths in a coalition government. Patil’s resignation comes at this critical moment.
According to TNIE, it was the 70-year-old Patil who convinced former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah to also contest from Badami besides Chamundeshwari. The move proved to be a blessing for Siddaramaiah as he won, albeit with a thing margin, from the constituency in Bagalkot district defeating B Sriramulu of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but lost to GT Deve Gowda of JD(S) in Chamundeshwari.
Congress is yet to act on the resignation tendered by the senior leader.