The continuing leadership deadlock in the Congress on Friday triggered a resignation spree by younger leaders, which created enough pressure for senior functionaries to follow suit.
It is expected that most office-bearers, both at the Centre and in the states, will put in their papers by Friday evening or Saturday morning.
While the state unit presidents of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Assam, Odisha and Maharashtra have already tendered their resignation, around 120 younger leaders, including AICC secretaries and other office-bearers, quit on Friday.
The collective resignations of these leaders came with a message: “I would like to resign immediately from my post in respect and honour of Rahul Gandhi.”
The move was not aimed at facilitating the restructuring of the party but to pressure Rahul to withdraw his resignation as Congress president. Rahul on Friday met leaders from Delhi and representatives from his constituency, Wayanad in Kerala.
Sources told The Telegraph that Rahul was unlikely to change his mind, but these resignations might make the task of restructuring easier. There was a feeling in the party that a section of office-bearers were holding on to their posts even after Rahul had established the principle of accountability by offering his resignation.
While some general secretaries said they were ready to step down, many office-bearers consulted each other to figure out whether the move was orchestrated or was supposed to be a collective endeavour.
Among the general secretaries, Deepak Babaria, in charge of Madhya Pradesh, was the first to resign.
AICC law department head Vivek Tankha quit on Thursday and appealed to all office-bearers to resign to facilitate restructuring. “We all should submit our resignations from party positions and give Rahulji a free hand to choose his team…. Party cannot afford a stalemate for too long,” Tankha tweeted.
The working presidents of Delhi and Telangana resigned on Friday. All Delhi block units were dissolved. The Goa state unit chief also quit. Frontal organisation chiefs, other state unit presidents and departmental heads are expected to step down too.