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Ghulam Nabi Azad continued his vitriol against the party saying he “was forced to leave the party”. He made the remarks while speaking to reporters here on Monday
Days after quitting Congress and hard on the heels of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) announcing the election for the top party post, Ghulam Nabi Azad continued his vitriol against the party saying he “was forced to leave the party”. He made the remarks while speaking to reporters here on Monday.
Azad said, “I have been forced to leave my home. When the family members do not want a man and the person starts feeling that he is now being considered as an outsider, then the person leaves the house.”
When asked about Congress leaders questioning his collusion with the BJP, the former Congress leader said, “Only those are colluding with (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi, who is fulfilling his dream of ‘Congress-Mukt Bharat’. And those who are helping in ‘Congress-Mukt Bharat’ are in collusion with him.”
Referring to former party chief Rahul Gandhi hugging the Prime Minister in Lok Sabha after his speech, Azad said, “It’s not me who is with Modi, it’s him.”
Asked about Congress Jairam Ramesh questioning his “Modi-fied DNA”, Azad, who was also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said, “What is his DNA? No one knows which state it is from. No one knows which district it is from. He must get his DNA checked. A few years ago, (Ramesh) was a freelancer. Which government was he working for? He used to send slips to the BJP while sitting in the house.”
Azad, who helmed several posts, also clarified about Modi and him crying in Rajya Sabha. He said, “Modi didn’t cry for me, but he cried mentioning an incident. I used to think that he was cruel but he showed me his humane side. We didn’t shed tears for ourselves but we cried while referring to an incident.”
Hitting out at the party leadership, Azad, without mincing words, said, “Modi is an excuse; they have had an issue with me since the G23 letter was written. They never wanted anyone to write to them, question them.”
He added that we had said in the meeting clearly that we do not want any posts and we should form a campaign committee for the election. We, the leaders of the G23, also wanted to carry out the campaign on our own and we did not want to take any facility (help) from the party; we wanted to do free work. So did I do this for Congress or for Modi?”
Besides Azad, as many as 22 leaders wrote to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 asking for active leadership in the party.
Taking a swipe at the party leaders for ignoring the suggestions by senior leaders, Azad said, “Several (Congress) meetings happened, but not even a single suggestion was taken.” Talking to reporters, the former Congress leader underlined he respects party president Sonia Gandhi the same way he did 30 years ago.
“My respect for Sonia Gandhi is the same as 30 years back, respect for Rahul Gandhi is the same as that befitting Indira Gandhi’s family, Rajiv-Sonia Gandhi’s son. Personally, I pray for his long life,” he said. Azad pointed out that all within the Congress party made attempts to push Rahul Gandhi towards success. “We tried to make him a successful leader but he’s not interested..,” Azad added.
Azad resigned from all posts on Friday and sent his five-page resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi. In his resignation letter, he slammed the party leaders over a host of issues.
