New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad announced his resignation from the party on Friday following a rift with Rahul Gandhi. He held Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Indian National Congress, in high regard, but blamed Rahul Gandhi for his exit from the party. His association with the party was almost four decades long.
Key highlights of the four-pages long resignation letter:
1. "Unfortunately, after the entry of Rahul Gandhi into politics and particularly after January 2013, when he was appointed Vice President by you (Sonia Gandhi), the entire consultative mechanism which existed earlier was demolished by him."
2. "One of the most glaring examples of his (Rahul Gandhi) immaturity was the tearing up of the government ordnance in the full glare of the media."
3. "This childish behavior completely subverted the authority of the Prime Minister and the government of India. This one single action more than anything else contributed significantly to the defeat of the UPA government in 2014 that was at the receiving end of a campaign of calumny and insinuation from a combination of forces of the right wing and certain unscrupulous corporate interests."
4. "Under your stewardship since 2014 and subsequently that of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress has lost two Lok Sabha elections in a humiliating manner. It has lost 39 out of the 49 assembly elections held between 2014 - 2022. The party only won four state elections and was able to get into a coalition situation in six instances. Unfortunately, today, the Congress is ruling in only two states and is a very marginal coalition partner in two other states."
5. "After Rahul Gandhi stepped down in a 'huff' and not before consulting all the senior party functionaries who have given their lives to the party in a meeting of the extended working committee, you took over as interim president. A position that you have continued to hold even today for the past three years. Worse still the 'remote control model' that demolished the institutional integrity of the UPA government now got applied to the Indian National Congress. While you are just a nominal figurehead all the important decisions were being taken by Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and PAs (personal assistants)."
With this, he has officially resigned from all party positions, including its primary membership. Calling Rahul Gandhi 'immature', he alleged he was disrespected in party meetings.
