Dehradun: Former Uttarakhand chief minister and AICC General Secretary Harish Rawat on Thursday tendered his resignation from his post, taking responsibility of party's defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He was the party in-charge for Assam. Rawat's decision comes a day after Rahul Gandhi officially stepped down as Congress President taking responsibility for the Lok Sabha poll debacle, and called for "hard decisions" to rebuild the party and making people accountable for the "failure" of 2019.

A day after his candid four-page letter formally and firmly stating that he was no longer Congress president, Gandhi appeared before a Mumbai court in connection with a defamation case filed by an RSS worker. Outside, Congress workers demonstrated, clamouring for him to take back his resignation.

A smiling and confident Gandhi told reporters he will engage in the 'ideological fight' with the BJP and the RSS with 10 times more vigour than he did during the last five years.

Rawat had last month stated that under Rahul Gandhi's leadership the party can go from defeat to victory. "We were not successful, but by strengthening the organisation, we can mount a challenge to the RSS-BJP's malicious propaganda," the former Uttarakhand chief minister said.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest decision making body, will meet soon to resolve the issue. It has been urged by Gandhi to appoint a new party president at the earliest.

(With additional information from PTI)