Veteran Cong. Leader Ghulam Nabi Azad Resigns, Slams Rahul Gandhi As "Immaturity"

Azad blames Rahul Gandhi for the downfall of the party

Ahead of the resignation of the Congress Veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was also part of the G-23 dissident group, quit the party today calling out Rahul Gandhi for "immaturity" and for "demolishing the consultative mechanism" in the party.

While speaking to the media, the Ex-Cong. leader Azad said, "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."

Moreover, the 73 years old, Azad said, "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. This childish behaviour 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."

"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," he said.

On commenting on Rahul Gadhi, he further added, "After Rahul Gandhi stepped down in a 'huff' and not before insulting 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 Shri Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and PAs (personal assistants)."

"The leadership in the past 08 years has tried to foist a non-serious individual at the helm of the Party. The entire organizational election process is a farce and a sham. Before starting Bharath Jodo Yatra the leadership should have undertaken a Congress Jodo exercise across the country," he said.