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Imphal, March 16 (IANS): A day after Congress President Sonia Gandhi asked party chiefs in five states where Assembly elections were held recently to quit, Manipur state unit chief N. Loken Singh on Wednesday put in his papers, taking moral responsibility for the party's defeat in the polls in the northeastern state.
After sending his resignation letter, Singh tweeted: "I take responsibility of the defeat of Congress in the Assembly Election 2022 in Manipur. I do hereby resign from the Presidentship of MPCC."
Before submitting his resignation, Singh, who had himself lost the Nambol assembly seat to BJP's Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh by a margin of 3,060 votes, held a marathon meeting with the party leaders and workers in Imphal.
A party leader said that Singh was keen to resign since Gandhi's directives on Tuesday but the local party leaders and his followers insisted he keep the post.
The Congress, which won only five seats in the 60 member assembly this time, saw many of its sitting MLAs losing. However, veteran leader and former three-time Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and his son Surjakumar Okram won from Thoubal and Khangabo constituencies, respectively.
The Congress, which governed the state for 15 consecutive years (2002-2017) and emerged as the single largest party by securing 28 seats in 2017 poll, this time fought as the Manipur Progressive Secular Alliance (MPSA) with the four Left parties and Janata Dal-Secular.