Sanjay Nirupam defends Rahul Gandhi, terms Congress' election defeat 'bad luck'

While Sanjay Nirupam faced defeat in Mumbai North West seat, Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost to Smriti Irani in Amethi.

Photo: Twitter/@sanjaynirupam

Mumbai: Congress suffered yet another crushing defeat in Lok Sabha elections when the party managed to win just 52 seats in the results announced on Thursday. Although there is a lot of speculation that party president Rahul Gandhi may offer his resignation, several leaders have begun putting a defensive wall around him. Among them is Sanjay Nirupam who said it was 'bad luck that Congress lost.'

Nirupam, known for having made a series of controversial remarks in the past, took to Twitter on Saturday and expressed his views on Congress' performance and why he feels Rahul's resignation is out of the question. "Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, we fought this election bravely. He worked very hard undoubtedly. Our bad luck we lost. Why should he resign? No. He should continue to lead the party. We will fight under his leadership and come back soon," he wrote.

Nirupam also trained his gun at the BJP and PM Narendra Modi despite the party winning a mammoth 300 seats in Lok Sabha election 2019. "In the so-called Modiwave, several parties and leaders have lost badly. No one is asking their presidents to resign. Nor they offered to resign. There is a conspiracy to malign our leader and a well-designed plan to target him. It must be stopped and the party must stand by him fully."

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance secured a massive mandate to return to power and it was deja vu for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance which fared poorly in almost every state. A number of Congress state unit chiefs, including Raj Babbar, have sent their resignations to Rahul. Rahul himself faces immense heat and there are speculative reports that he may offer to resign when Congress Working Committee sits down to assess the reasons for loss later on Saturday.