Congress hits back at Azad, defends Rahul

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the content of Ghulam Nabi Azad's letter was "not factual" and the "timing is awful", writes ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri

New Delhi: A stunned Congress on Friday hit back at veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad for quitting the party, questioned the timing of the move and defended Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. The main Congress refrain was over the timing of the resignation and the content of the resignation letter, in which Azad praised party chief Sonia Gandhi but slammed her son Rahul Gandhi.

The resignation shocked the veterans, who said that the party was above all and that Congress had given almost every key party and government post barring that of the prime minister. JP Agrawal, a veteran Delhi politician, former MP, and Union Minister, who has worked in the Congress for around 50 years and has been a colleague of Azad said he did not appreciate Ghulam’s move.

“No, I don’t like this. I am not happy about what has happened. The party gave him everything that a leader can aspire for. He also worked for the party. But the party is above every leader. There may be some issues which you don’t like or conform to but that does not mean that you leave the organization,” Agrawal told ETV Bharat. “This was not a good time to leave the party for Azad,” he added.

The timing was indeed surprising

Azad’s resignation has come at a time when the Congress has got into an agitation mode and is carrying out massive nationwide protests against the policies of the Modi government. “We have read the letter of Ghulam Nabi Azad that has been released to the media. It is most unfortunate that this has happened at a time when Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the entire party organisation is involved in fighting the BJP on public issues of price rise, unemployment, and polarisation and when final preparations are being made for the big rally price rise in New Delhi on September 4 and for launch of the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari on September 7,” AICC general secretary Ajay Maken said.

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said that the content of Azad’s resignation letter, where he leveled several charges on Rahul Gandhi, was factually not correct. “The resignation is most unfortunate and regrettable. The content of the letter is not factually correct,” said Ramesh.

Maken too defended Rahul. “The Congress is trying to give voice to the opposition against the policies of the Central government. Rahul Gandhi is today the most vocal opposition voice against the BJP. It is sad that Azad chose not to join that voice and leave us when we are preparing to counter the Centre,” said Maken.

But there were some leaders who defended Azad. “He must have been hurt. Therefore, he made that decision. He only raised issues to revive Congress. This could have been sorted out by talking to him,” said Anand Sharma, who was Azad’s deputy in Rajya Sabha. “Where did the talks between Sonia Gandhi and Azad go wrong? We are getting weaker. It is a sad development. We need to rethink Congress's future,” he said.

In 2020, Azad had led the G23, a group of senior leaders, who had written a letter to Sonia Gandhi urging revamp of the organization and a full-time and visible party president to prepare for future challenges.

Veteran M Veerappa Moily, who was part of G23 refused to comment on the issue. “There are a lot of problems in the Congress system,” said former party leader PC Chacko.