The many body blows to the Congress: Ghulam Nabi Azad and other prominent leaders who quit the party this year

At a time when the Congress is gearing up for its Bharat Jodo yatra — scheduled to begin from 7 September — with an aim of re-uniting the nation, the party is struggling to keep its own flock together.

Just two days after Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill quit the party, veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also announced his decision of stepping away from the party.

Also read: Explained: Why Ghulam Nabi Azad’s resignation from the Congress comes as no surprise

The back-to-back exits of Azad and Shergill will be a huge psychological blow to the Congress, which is preparing for the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.

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We take a look at some of the recent big exits from the Congress and what pushed these leaders to quit the grand old party.

Jaiveer Shergill

An advocate by profession, Shergill announced his resignation from the party on Wednesday.

In his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, he wrote, “I hereby resign from the post of National Spokesperson of the party. The primary reason being that the ideology and the vision of the current decision makers of the Indian National Congress is no longer in sync with the aspirations of the youth and modern India.”

The letter added, “Furthermore, it pains me to say that the decision making is no longer for the interests of the public and the country, rather it is influenced by the self-serving interests of individuals indulging in sycophancy and consistently ignoring the on-ground reality. This is something I cannot morally accept or continue to work with.”

He later was quoted as saying that despite numerous requests for time to meet Sonia Gandhi and her children — Rahul and Priyanka — it was never granted. “There are people in the offices of Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi… I don’t sing to their tunes. I don’t make weekly visits or weekly calls… if that is my sole disqualification then I am not fit to be in the party,” he was quoted as telling the Indian Express.

It has been reported that Shergill’s unhappiness with the party has been festering for a while now. He was miffed after not being invited for the Chintan Shivir in Udaipur.

Shergill, who is from Jalandhar, joined the Congress in 2014 through a ‘talent hunt’ to identify young and articulate faces. He rose quickly in the party and in 2018 was appointed the national spokesperson for the Congress. He was also given the charge of coordinating communications in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh during the Assembly polls.

Kapil Sibal

Back in May, veteran leader Kapil Sibal dropped a bombshell when he applied for Rajya Sabha nominations as an independent candidate with the backing of the Samajwadi Party. At the time, he announced that he had ended his three-decade-long association with the Congress.

“I had resigned from the Congress party on 16 May,” he had told reporters then, adding, “I am no longer a serious Congress leader.”

Sibal was one of the core leaders of the G-23, a group of dissenting Congress leaders, who have been demanding sweeping changes in the party.

Sunil Jakhar

After being one of the senior-most Congress leaders in Punjab, Sunil Jakhar announced he was leaving the party in May, asserting that the party was facing an existential crisis and yet no intent was being seen to save the party.

While the Congress held its Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, Jakhar on Facebook said: Good luck and good bye to Congress party.”

He had then added that the Chintan Shivir was nothing more than a mere formality and was unhopeful of any positive outcome.

Jakhar’s resignation came while he had been issued a showcause notice for criticising former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

After quitting the party, Jakhar quickly made the jump to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was seen being welcomed by party president JP Nadda.

Hardik Patel

Many had believed that the Congress had a real chance of trumping the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly elections with the help of Hardik Patel, the fiery 28-year-old Patidar leader. But that was not meant to be.

In May, he quit the Congress and put out an extremely scathing one-page resignation letter.

He wrote, “Whenever our country faced challenges and when the Congress needed leadership, Congress leaders were enjoying abroad.

“Be it building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, revocation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, implementation of GST (Goods and Services Tax) — India wanted solutions for these subjects for a long time and Congress only played the role of a roadblock and was always only obstructive. When it came to issues related to India, Gujarat and my Patidar community — the Congress’s only stand was to oppose whatever the Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji did. Congress today has been rejected in almost every state of India because the party and its leadership have not been able to present a basic road map to the people,” Patel said.

Patel’s letter spoke of his disappointment when party workers like him travelled 500-600 km to attend a meeting and discuss issues but found the local leaders busy trying to ensure that some senior Congress leader from Delhi was served “his chicken sandwich on time”.

“Whenever I tried to draw the attention of party leaders towards pressing issues of Gujarat, it seemed they were more focused on their mobile phone screens and other gadgets,” Patel said, describing a “lack of seriousness about all issues” as a major problem with the Congress’s “senior leadership”.

Two weeks after quitting the Congress, he formally joined the BJP, saying it was his duty to become a “soldier” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work for “national interest”.

Ashwani Kumar

In February, former Union minister and senior leader Ashwani Kumar announced he was ending his more than four decade association with the Congress.

In his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Dr Kumar wrote, “Having given my thoughtful consideration to the matter, I have concluded that in the present circumstances and consistent with my dignity, I can best subserve larger national cause outside the party fold.”

He also said he “hoped to proactively pursue public causes inspired by the idea of transformative leadership, based on the dignitarian promise of a liberal democracy envisioned by our freedom fighters.”

Kumar was also quoted as telling the Indian Express Kumar that “internal processes” of the Congress diminished individual leaders.

“The continuous decline of the Congress in terms of vote percentage, in terms of popular support clearly shows that the party is out of sync with the way the nation thinks,” he had said.

The Punjab leader’s resignation was reportedly in reaction to how former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was humiliated by the Congress.

RPN Singh

As the Congress was preparing its fight for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in January, RPN Singh, who had been named as a star campaigner, stepped down from the party and joined the BJP.

Singh sent his resignation letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi thanking her for giving him an opportunity to serve the nation, people and the party. “Today, at a time, we are celebrating the formation of our great Republic, I begin a new chapter in my political journey. Jai Hind,” he tweeted, sharing the resignation letter.

He became the second prominent Congress leader in UP to join the BJP after Jitin Prasada, who was made a minister in Yogi Adityanath government. Singh along with Prasada and Jyotiraditya Scindia, who became a Union minister, were considered close to Rahul Gandhi.

With inputs from agencies

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