Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh meets Sonia Gandhi, rules out resignation

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi after which he ruled out his resignation despite the poor showing of the party in his state in the Lok Sabha elections.

"I have not resigned. Nobody has asked me resign," Singh told reporters after meeting the Congress chief.

He insisted that there was no need for him to resign as the Lok Sabha polls were not state elections.

"This was not the election of Himachal Pradesh but of the entire country. People voted to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister and not on development issues of Himachal Pradesh," Singh said.

Congress lost all the four Lok Sabha seats in the state including Mandi from where Singh's wife and sitting MP Pratibha was the party candidate.

Singh had also earlier said that it was the defeat of the party and not the Chief Minister and it was not his moral responsibility as the issues involved were beyond his control.

There have been a dozen odd states where the Congress could not win a single seat and these include major ones like Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Singh had said there were many factors, which led to the party's defeat including that "people were yearning for a change at the national level".

The chief minister's statements come in the backdrop of speculation that there could be a change of guard in some states ruled by Congress with a view of impending Assembly elections there.