In the wake of the recent age related controversy in the Congress, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha member Satyavrat Chaturvedi has taken the lead in requesting the party leadership to free him from all the responsibilities of the party.
Chaturvedi, who is the chief whip of the party in upper house, has conveyed to party president Sonia Gandhi that he would neither seek nor accept any position in the party though he would respect all the orders issued by the leadership and continue the work with same zeal as required.
“This is nothing new. I had conveyed my feelings to the party almost 15 years ago that once I attain the age of 65 I will neither seek nor accept any party positions or posts. My Rajya Sabha membership will expire in 2018 and after that I will continue to work as a soldier of the party but not sit on any post,” Chaturvedi told The Pioneer.
When asked that does that mean he is not unhappy with the current situation of the party and a greater division between senior and junior members, Chaturvedi said he will ever remain a Congressman and there should be no any speculations on my decision taken long ago and much before the recent age related controversy raked up.
“I am born in a freedom fighters family. Unnecessary a controversy has been created over a situation which is voluntary and very natural. I fail to understand the though behind creating the age related controversy which should be very much by choice,” he added.
Senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi last month had said people in politics should not continue in active posts beyond 70 years of age. Dwivedi, who will be 69 next month and feels marginalised in the party, had said that 65 or 70 should be the age for people to go out of active posts and take up other roles instead.
His remarks came in the backdrop after BJP had dropped veterans like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, seniormost party leaders l K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi from the Parliamentary Board and named them in Margdarshak Mandal, mentor’s group.last week atleast 16 secretaries met Dwivedi, “to thrash out the differences” between the “senior brigade and the junior brigade” and sought directions to issue a gag order to seniors from speaking against the party publicly.
Dwivedi has been accused by youngsters for speaking out in public on several issues including age, brining Priyanaka Gandhi etc in mainstream politics which was seen undermining the potential of Gandhi scion Rahul. Senior general secretary Digvijay Singh has also been held culpable on the same charge, for giving political analysis of Rahul’s performance and persona before the media.