“BJP faced many electoral defeats, but their leaders did not quit” ,says Shiv Sena

Speaking after the inauguration of a public park named for former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee in suburban Borivali, Thackeray said the Sena-BJP alliance faced many defeats in the initial years. “It is only now that we are winning. Nobody runs away because of an electoral defeat. Vajpayee was also defeated in elections, but he did not lose heart. Nobody resigned back then,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi has resigned owning moral responsibility for the Congress’ Lok Sabha debacle.

“It is only now that we are winning. Nobody runs away because of an electoral defeat. Vajpayee was also defeated in elections, but he did not lose heart. Nobody resigned back then,” Mr Thackeray, who has never contested an election himself, said.

The Shiv Sena leader, however, did not name Rahul Gandhi, who was in Mumbai in the day for a hearing in a defamation case.

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday publicly announced his resignation as Congress president, taking responsibility for the Lok Sabha polls debacle, and called for “hard decisions” to rebuild the party and making people accountable for the “failure” of 2019.

In a four-page open letter, Mr Gandhi also urged the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to entrust a group of people with the task of finding a new president as it would not be proper for him to do so.