Ghulam Nabi Azad's exit stuns Congress; more resignations soon?
Even though Congress leaders Ajay Makan and Jairam Ramesh termed Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation as most-unfortunate and regrettable, the two leaders refused to take questions on the points raised by the senior leader in his resignation letter against the AICC and Rahul Gandhi.
FollowThe Congress party on Friday termed as 'unfortunate and regrettable' senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's exit from the party and his scathing criticism of the All India Congress Committee. The Congress response comes amid speculation that more leaders could exit the party in the days to come.
Briefing the media shortly after Azad's resignation letter became public, Congress leaders Ajay Makan and Jairam Ramesh said that 'at a time when the entire Congress party along with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi is engaged in combating and fighting the Bharatiya Janata Party on issues of inflation, unemployment and polarization, it is most unfortunate that at this time we have to read this letter that has been released to the press.'
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The two leaders, however, refused to take questions on the points raised by Azad in his resignation letter.
In his letter, Azad wrote a five-page letter to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi in which he mentioned the situation in the party and said that it had reached a point of 'no return'.
To note, the Congress party had officially announced its presidential election will be held on September 21. Azad's resignation comes on the sidelines amid speculations that the deadline has once again been delayed by a month.
In his letter, Azad said: 'The entire organisational election process is a farce and a sham. At no place anywhere in the country have elections been held at any level of the organisation. Handpicked lieutenants of the AICC have been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24 Akbar Road.'
While lashing out at Rahul Gandhi and blaming his 'immaturity' for the party's dwindling political clout and poor performance in elections, the senior leader claimed that Rahul demolished the entire consultative mechanism in the party after his entry into politics in 2013. Rahul entered the Congress party as its Vice President in 2013.
'All senior and experienced leaders were sidelined, and the new coterie of inexperienced sycophants started running the affairs of the party,' Azad said, adding that '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 Rahul Gandhi...'
'This childish behaviour completely subverted the authority of India's Prime Minister and government. This one single action, more than anything else, contributed significantly to the defeat of the UPA government in 2014,' Azad wrote.Â
On G23 -- the group of leaders who hd sought systemic changes with the Congress -- the former Rajya Sabha MP said that the party had lost both the will and the ability under the tutelage of the coterie that runs the All India Congress Committee to fight for what is right for India.
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