Rahul Gandhi has resigned as leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, ending weeks of speculation.
In his resignation letter, which he tweeted on Thursday, he took responsibility for the party’s defeat in the recent general election.
He had already announced his intention to resign, but party leaders had hoped to change his mind.
Mr Gandhi’s father, grandmother and great grandfather were all former prime ministers.
In the letter he added that while he had no “hatred or anger” towards India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), “every living cell in my body instinctively resists their idea of India” which he said was based on differences and hatred.
He also called the impartiality of the election into question, saying that “we didn’t fight a political party… we fought the entire machinery of the Indian state”.
