Ghulam Nabi Azad quits Congress over Rahul Gandhi's 'immaturity', says major decisions taken by his PAs

Ghulam Nabi Azad. File Pic

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday resigned from all party positions, including its primary membership, delivering another blow to the embattled party that has seen a series of leaders leave it.

In a five-page no holds barred letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi that comes ahead of crucial organisational elections in the party, Azad said he does so with a "heavy heart".

"All senior and experienced leaders were sidelined and new coterie of inexperienced sycophants started running the affairs of the Party. One of the most glaring examples of this immaturity was the tearing up of a government ordinance in the full glare of the media by Shri Rahul Gandhi. The said ordinance was incubated in the Congress Core Group and subsequently unanimously approved by the Union Cabinet presided over by the Prime Minister of India and duly approved even by the President of India. This 'childish' behaviour completely subverted the authority of the Prime Minister and Government of India. This one single action more than anything else contributed significantly to the defeat of the UPA Government in 2014 that was at the receiving end of a campaign of calumny and insinuation from a combination of the forces of the right-wing and certain unscrupulous corporate interests," the Azad wrote.

Earlier on Wednesday, lawyer-turned-politician Jaiveer Shergill, resigned as Congress spokesperson stating that the decision-making of the grand-old party is not in consonance with the ground reality and public interest rather it is influenced by sycophancy.

The Congress, he said, has lost both the will and the ability under tutelage of the coterie that runs the AICC to fight for what is right for India, Azad, who is part of the G-23 group seeking change in party, said.

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Before starting a 'Bharat jodo yatra', the leadership should have undertaken a 'Congress jodo yatra', the veteran leader said in his letter.

The 23 leaders who wrote to point out weaknesses in the party were abused, insulted, humiliated, vilified, Azad said.

At no place have elections been held at any level of organisation, he added while announcing his resignation from the Congress.

The situation in the Congress, he said, has reached a point of no return and now "proxies" are being propped to take over leadership of the party, he said.

Holding the leadership squarely responsible for perpetrating "giant fraud" on the party, Azad said handpicked lieutenants of the AICC were coerced to sign on lists prepared by coterie that runs the organisation.

(With inputs from PTI)