Ghulam Nabi Azad’s resignation from the Congress on Friday marked the most high-profile exit of one of the “Group of 23” (G-23) leaders, who had written to party chief Sonia Gandhi two years ago for a “collective and inclusive leadership” in the organisation, exposing the faultlines in the grand old party.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quit the party today calling out Rahul Gandhi for “immaturity” and for “demolishing the consultative mechanism” in the party.
Ghulam Nabi Azad had been a leading member of the G-23 or the group of 23 “dissenters” who had written to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 calling for a complete overhaul of the organization and a full-time and visible leadership.
In a five-page letter addressed to party president Sonia Gandhi, Azad said the situation in the Congress has reached a point of “no return”.
“The entire organisational election process is a farce and a sham. At no place anywhere in the country have elections been held at any level of the organisation. Handpicked lieutenants of the AICC have been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24 Akbar Road,” Azad said.
He said following the entry of Rahul Gandhi into politics, especially after he was appointed the vice-president of the party in 2013, “the entire consultative mechanism which existed earlier was demolished by him”.
“The entire organisational election process is a farce and a sham. At no place anywhere in the country have elections been held at any level of the organisation. Handpicked lieutenants of the AICC have been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24 Akbar Road,” Azad said.
He said following the entry of Rahul Gandhi into politics, especially after he was appointed the vice-president of the party in 2013, “the entire consultative mechanism which existed earlier was demolished by him”.
“All senior and experienced leaders were sidelined and new coterie of inexperienced sycophants started running the affairs of the party,” he said.