Disrespect on part of the party high command representative who used ‘Get Out’ on a three time Minister and biggest Dalit leader, Raj Kumar Chauhan, resigned from the Congress after serving the party for nearly three decades.

Brewing dissatisfaction in Delhi  Congress over distribution of tickets to ‘outsiders’, for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the national capital next month, prominent Dalit leader and three time former minister in the Sheila Dikshit cabinet,  Chauhan, resigned from the grand old party accusing those appointed to oversee the Lok Sabha elections in the city of disrespecting him publicly, a day after the meeting of Delhi Congress’ disciplinary committee.

Chauhan was under fire for allegedly mobilising a section of Congress workers against its North West Delhi candidate, Udit Raj.

On Monday, when its Delhi unit was officially introducing its three Lok Sabha candidates to the media, the protesters raised slogans of “Bahari ummeedwar nahi chalega (an outsider candidate will not be allowed)”, criticising Raj for his affiliation with the BJP till 2019.

Talking to The Pioneer, Chauhan said he has resigned from the party. Chauhan said he had no plan to join any other party including BJP. “AICC incharge for Delhi Deepak Babaria called a meeting at his house. When I started speaking in the meeting, Babria asked me to ‘get out’ and he repeated it four to five times. I was trying to tell him that the candidate, who has been given the ticket (Udit Raj), has been abusing every caste. I am a four-time MLA and a three-time minister (in Delhi government). We have done so much development work for Delhi. An outsider was telling me to get out. That’s why I was angry and sent my resignation to DPCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely,” Chauhan said.

“I have resigned because a meeting was called…to discuss the election candidates…some 20 to 25 main leaders from North East Delhi, including Arvinder Singh Lovely, were a part of that meeting. During the meeting, we were trying to put our side forward but we were not allowed to,” Chauhan alleged.

“We were shouted at and asked to get out of the room. If we cannot express our opinion even in a closed room, where can we?” he demanded.

Chauhan said in writing that the Congress is going to lose all three seats in Delhi. They made blunders when the party decided to tie up with the AAP. Now they gave tickets to outsiders. Thirdly, they brought people like Babaria who cannot win a Councillor election,” he added.

On Tuesday, Delhi Congress’ disciplinary committee held a meeting and left it to the AICC to decide on whether to take any action on complaints against Chauhan.  During a meeting held on Sunday at the residence of AICC Delhi in-charge Babria, a heated argument had erupted between Babria and Chauhan, sources in the party said.

It was also decided in the disciplinary meeting that the committee will identify those who shouted slogans when the three Congress candidates for the Lok Sabha elections were being introduced to the media at a press conference by the Delhi Congress chief and issue show cause notice to them to maintain discipline in the party.

The disciplinary committee of Delhi Congress, under the chairmanship of Narendra Nath, unanimously decided that the AICC should decide on the complaint against Chauhan.

On Monday, a section of Congress workers also held a protest against the nomination of former BJP MP Udit Raj as the party’s Lok Sabha poll candidate from North West Delhi.

The protesters gathered outside the Congress office at Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg and raised slogans against “outsiders” fielded by the party in the elections.

Sources in the Congress said that there are over a dozen former MLAs and councilors who are upset with giving tickets to Kanhaiya Kumar and Udit Raj for the Lok Sabha elections.  A Congress leader said on the condition of anonymity that top party leadership have been conveyed their resentment of giving tickets to outsiders in Delhi.

A four-time MLA from Mangolpuri assembly segment, Chauhan was a minister in Sheila Dikshit’s cabinet for 13 years and held several important portfolios, including PWD and urban development. He had lost the 2013 and 2015 polls to AAP’s Rakhi Birla. Chauhan had resigned from the party in 2019 and joined the BJP but within a month he returned to the Congress.