Chandigarh, Jul 3 (IANS): Expressing disappointment over Rahul Gandhi's resignation as the Congress President, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder on Wednesday said Rahul should have continued to lead the party with the same dynamism and fighting spirit with which he had steered the election campaign.

Reiterating that the onus of the party's defeat in the recent Lok Sabha polls did not lie on Rahul's shoulders alone, but was the collective responsibility of all the Congress leaders, Amarinder Singh said one electoral defeat could not be taken to define the sum-total of the leadership of Rahul.

It was not fair for Rahul to hold himself accountable for a collective defeat, he added.

Pointing out that Rahul had successfully led the party to scintillating victories in three states during Assembly polls just a few months before the Lok Sabha elections, the Chief Minister said it was clearly a multitude of factors that caused the party's debacle in the parliamentary elections.

The BJP swept the polls on the back of their nationalist diatribe, which overshadowed the positive electioneering of the Congress led by Rahul, he added.

Victory and defeat are part of any political party's fortunes in an electoral polity like ours, said Amarinder Singh, adding that every defeat forms the platform for the party to rise again.

"It is a difficult time for the party, but together, we will get through it, to come out stronger and bigger, with Rahul's vision continuing to guide us," he added.