NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi said today it was “an honour to serve the Congress party” in a letter he tweeted hours after declaring that he was no longer the party president. The designation of “President” also vanished from his Twitter bio, which now says “Member of Congress and Member of Parliament”. 

“It is an honour for me to serve the Congress Party, whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation. I owe the country and my organisation a debt of tremendous gratitude and love,” he wrote in what was widely seen as an open letter of resignation.

“As president of the Congress party, I am responsible for the loss of the 2019 election. Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress president.”

Rahul Gandhi, 49, said rebuilding the party would need hard decisions and “numerous people will have to be made accountable for the failure of 2019” but it would be unjust to hold others accountable and “ignore” his own responsibility.

He said he had tasked a group of people to search for a new president.