Chandigarh/IBNS: At a time the country is heading to the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, Congress faced massive setback in Chandigarh as 80 of its city leaders quit the party over an alleged disrespect shown to former MP Pawan Bansal, media reports said.

The mass resignation followed after several were upset over Chandigarh Congress chief H S Lucky's Instagram post after Manish Tiwari was announced the candidate from the Chandigarh seat.

Despite the embarrassment, senior Congress leader Rajeev Shukla claimed Bansal is with the grand old party.

Shukla told The Indian Express, "Bansal ji is with us. He is always with the party. These are temporary reactions which happen in every political party… They (those who resigned) are not against the candidate.

"They are not against the party…. They are reacting just to some statement of a party functionary. So we will definitely pacify them, will talk to them and resolve it."

"This always happens when elections are around the corner… something like this always happens … We will speak to them," he added.

He is also visiting Chandigarh on Thursday.

Lucky has now said he respects Bansal and claimed his social media profiles are handled by students.

The leaders, who resigned from the party, have demanded the removal of Lucky as the unit chief.