The Congress on Friday called senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad’s resignation “unfortunate” and termed the timing “awful”, saying it has come at a time when the party is engaged in combating the BJP on various issues.
“Ghulam Nabi Azad was a senior leader of the Congress. It is saddening that when the party fighting against inflation and polarisation, he decided to quit. It is most unfortunate that this has happened when the entire organisation is engaged in combating the BJP on issues of price rise and unemployment,” the Congress said in a statement.
Congress leaders said Azad’s observations in the letter were more of a “personal vilification” targeting Rahul Gandhi.
“A man who has been treated with the greatest respect by the Congress leadership has betrayed it by his vicious personal attacks which reveal his true character,” Congress’ chief spokesperson Jairam Ramesh tweeted, adding that “GNA’s DNA has been Modi-fied.”
Hours after Azad quit the Congress, five senior party leaders including two former ministers in Jammu and Kashmir resigned from the party’s basic membership with sources saying more are likely to go.
Ramesh also questioned the contents of the letter written by Azad. “First Modi’s tears in Parliament, then Padma Vibhushan, then the extension for residence. Ye sanyog nahi sahyog hai (It’s not a coincidence, it’s a collaboration),” Ramesh said.
One of the probable candidates for the new Congress chief, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took a dig at Azad and said it is not right for people whose very identity is due to the party to say such things.
Referring to Congress stalwarts Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi attending Azad’s wedding in Srinagar, Gehlot said they wanted “this young boy” to move forward.
The party gave him various responsibilities in the organisation and subsequently, made him the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a Union Minister and a Member of Parliament, he pointed out.
Asked about the allegation that top Congress leaders are surrounded by sycophants, the veteran leader said, “All those who were with Sanjay Gandhi, including Ghulam Nabi Azad, were considered to be sycophants at that time. But Sanjay Gandhi did not care and that is why Azad saab became such a big leader. Had Sanjay Gandhi removed sycophants under pressure, as Azad is expecting Rahul Gandhi to do today, no one would have known Ghulam Nabi Azad or any other leader.”
Veteran Congress leader M Mallikarjun Kharge said the party had given Azad “everything” during his long innings, and his comments on Rahul were “not in good taste”.
“We have seen the love between Narendra Modi and Azad in the Parliament, and that love has been manifested in this letter,” said media department head of Congress Pawan Khera.
Asked about the reference to an incident from 2013 when Rahul had tore apart a copy of an Ordinance brought in by his party-led UPA government and mentioned by Azad in his resignation letter, Khera said Azad did not speak out then as he was holding a post.
The Congress also rejected Azad’s reported criticism that he was not properly consulted before a rejig of the Jammu and Kashmir’s Congress unit. Azad participated in four meetings at the party’s 15 GRG ‘war room’ on Kashmir unit rejig with the last one being on July 14, sources said.
Azad’s resignation from the Congress marked the most high-profile exit of one of the “Group of 23” (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a “collective and inclusive leadership” in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
Former Union minister Anand Sharma, who created a flutter recently by resigning as the chairman of the party’s steering committee for Himachal Pradesh, months ahead of the Assembly polls in the hill state, appears to be mending his ways by asserting his loyalty to the Congress.