Congress’ Gujarat chief puts in his papers

AHMEDABAD - Congress’ Gujarat unit chief Siddhartha Patel Saturday announced his resignation following the party’s dismal showing in the panchayat polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) virtually swept the Gujarat local bodies elections Saturday bagging 22 of the 24 district panchayats and 36 of the 52 municipalities.

In a statement released here, Patel said that he had sent in his resignation to party resident Sonia Gandhi accepting moral responsibility for the party’s showing in the just-concluded civic bodies and panchayat elections.

“The atmosphere was favourable for the party and the workers also put in a lot of hard work but the results have been difficult to digest,” he said, adding that he, however, did not want to make this as an excuse for shirking his responsibility and was therefore accepting full responsibility for it.

“I am grateful for the confidence the party leadership had reposed in me and thankful to the workers for their cooperation,” he added.