MP BJP chief Rakesh Singh quits after party's defeat in Assembly polls; Amit Shah rejects resignation

After BJP’s loss to Congress in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, Rakesh Singh, the president of the Madhya Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), tendered his resignation on Thursday. While giving his resignation, he took responsibility for the saffron party’s defeat in the state Assembly polls. However, ANI reported that BJP president Amit Shah did not accept his resignation and instead asked him to work harder. [caption id=“attachment_4437333” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Rakesh Singh. News18[/caption] This comes a day after Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave his resignation to Governor Anandiben Patel. Chouhan had also accepted ‘complete responsibility’ of the BJP’s defeat in the state polls. “I have submitted my resignation. The complete responsibility of (BJP’s) defeat (in MP) is only mine,” Chouhan had told reporters outside Raj Bhavan. Singh, after Chouhan’s statement, had then tweeted, stating it the loss is the collective responsibility of BJP and not Chouhan alone. He also promised that they will perform better in the Lok Sabha elections. Singh was appointed as the president of the Madhya Pradesh BJP unit in April, replacing Nandkumar Singh Chauhan. The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the state by winning 114 seats, two short of a simple majority in the 230-member Assembly. The BJP, which ruled the state for 15 years, got 109 seats. However, it was ahead of the Congress in the vote share by a slender margin, bagging 41 percent of the votes polled, while the Congress got 40.9 percent. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bagged two seats, the Samajwadi Party (SP) got one and Independents got four seats. BSP supremo Mayawati and the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday announced their support to the Congress to form the government in Madhya Pradesh.