Party decisions taken by Rahul Gandhi, his security guards and PAs: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad has resigned from the Indian National Congress citing mismanagement by the party leaders and corrupt practices in the organisational election process. The former Union Minister was associated with Congress for more than five decades. In a five-page resignation letter addressed to interim party president Sonia Gandhi, Azad pointed out the flaws in the functioning of the party.

Azad stated that Rahul Gandhi, with his “childish behaviour” and glaring “immaturity”, was “demolishing the consultative mechanism” in the party. He stated that while Sonia Gandhi became a nominal head of the party, important decisions were taken by Rahul Gandhi, or worse, his security guards and PAs. Stating that Congress had reached a point of ‘no return’, he also blamed the party management for losing its political space to BJP and other regional parties by trying to impose a “non-serious individual” as the leader o the party. He was referring to Rahul Gandhi.

“Unfortunately, after the entry of Rahul Gandhi into politics and particularly after January 2013, when he was appointed Vice President by you, the entire consultative mechanism which existed earlier was demolished by him,” Azad wrote.

Speaking about an example of Gandhi’s “glaring immaturity”, Azad mentioned the tearing up of the government ordnance in the full glare of the media by Rahul Gandhi. The ordnance was incubated in the core group of the party, was approved unanimously by then party leaders and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and by the President. However, when Gandhi discarded the ordnance, it raised questions about the authority of the Primi Minister and the government of India, Nabi said., adding that the single action led to the defeat of UPA in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Since 2014, Congress has lost two general elections in 2014 and 2019. It has lost 39 out of the 49 assembly elections held between 2014 – 2022. The party also got only six coalition situations after it won only four state elections. INC, at present, holds power in only two states – Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh.

Azad has blamed this downward spiral on the party forcing Rahul Gandhi as its leader, when clearly, such positioning isn’t helping the Congress. He also stated that Rahul Gandhi’s decision to step down after the 2019 elections, not before insulting the senior members of the party who have given their life to the Congress, worsened the party’s situation, taking it to a point of ‘no return’.

Speaking about the organisation’s election process, Azad called it a sham and a farce. “At no place anywhere in the country have elections been held at any level of the organisation. Handpicked lieutenants of the AICC has been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24 Akbar Road”, he wrote.

Azad’s decision comes a day after the Congress announced it will be postponing the Congress Chief post’s elections as it wants to focus on the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and give another chance to Rahul Gandhi to gain a stronghold on the reins of the party.