Rahul resigns as leader of India's opposition Congress

NEW DELHI: India’s Rahul Gandhi 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.

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

His party could win only 52 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, pulverized by the PM Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party’s massive victory.