NEW DELHI:  Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh wants a young leader to galvanize the Congress.  After Rahul Gandhi’s “unfortunate resignation” as party president, the Punjab unit of the Congress party’s state unit said so in a statement today. The Chief Minister has asked the Congress Working Committee, the party’s top decision-making body, to look for Rahul Gandhi’s replacement in a “charismatic Gen Next leader, who can enthuse the people with his pan-India appeal and grassroots presence”.

“The Congress needs young blood to galvanize its rank and file, and once again make it India’s preferred and only choice. Only a youth leader could revive the grand old party,” said the Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in the statement. “The leadership of the party should be such that it reflects the realignment of its vision to the evolving aspirations of the nation,” he added.

Rahul Gandhi has said he had left it to his party to find a successor soon, taking responsibility for a second straight national election defeat. “Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress president,” he said in a letter he tweeted hours after declaring that he was no longer the party president on Wednesday.

Rahul Gandhi, who took over as party chief from his mother Sonia Gandhi in 2017, had quit on May 25, days after the Congress ended up with just 52 of 543 Lok Sabha seats, thrashed badly once again by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP. (Agencies)