Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar sends resignation to Rahul Gandhi after his debacle in 2019 poll

After losing the Gurdaspur seat to BJP's Sunny Deol, Sunil Jakhar has sent his resignation as Punjab Congress chief to party president Rahul Gandhi, taking moral responsibility for the loss. "He sent his resignation to Rahul ji a day after the results were declared," an aide of Jakhar said Monday. Jakhar was on his way to Delhi and was not immediately available for comment.

In the letter, Jakhar mentioned that despite support of party's senior leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, he could not retain the seat. The ruling Congress in Punjab won eight out of 13 parliamentary seats in the state, bucking the pro-Modi trend. Jakhar had won the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat in the bypolls in October 2017.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of BJP MP Vinod Khanna. The Congress leader had then defeated BJP's Swaran Salaria by a margin of over 1.93 lakh votes. However, Jakhar lost the seat this time to actor-turned-politician Deol by a margin of 82,459 votes.

Five years ago, Jakhar, who was then Punjab Congress Legislature Party leader, had submitted resignation from the post after losing the Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat. However, his resignation was rejected by then party president Sonia Gandhi.

-PTI