Former Hry Cong chief quits party ahead of state elections
NEW DELHI: Two days after he resigned from every post in the party, former Haryana unit chief of Congress Ashok Tanwar resigned from the primary membership of the party on Saturday, two weeks ahead of the assembly elections.
In his resignation letter, which he made public on his official twitter account, Tanwar accused the party’s senior leaders of lobbying and favouring friends.
He said that there is an attempt to ‘eliminate young leaders’ close to former party president Rahul Gandhi.
“In the last few years, numerous conspiracies are being hatched to eliminate those young leaders who have been groomed by Shri Rahul Gandhi in last one and a half decade. Unfortunately most victims of this conspiracy may not have the courage to stand up, but I think it is my moral and political duty to resist, oppose and expose this onslaught,” the former MP wrote in his letter addressed to party president Sonia Gandhi.
Tanwar has repeatedly gone public with his differences with senior Haryana leader Bhupinder Hooda.
Tanwar has had a longstanding rivalry with senior Haryana leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Last month, he was removed as the president of the Haryana unit of the party.
He accused Hooda of attacking him and his supporters during a rally in 2016.
He also accused senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, current All India Congress Commitee (AICC) in-charge of the party’s Haryana unit of favouring his friends. He also accused Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, former Haryana in-charge of not paying attention to the state.
In the run-up to the assembly elections to the states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, Congress has been battling a high attrition.
Earlier on Friday, n Maharashtra, senior party leader Sanjay Nirupam is also irked after the party did not give ticket to one of his supporters.
Reacting to these outbursts, senior party leader and Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters on Friday that both the leaders should have maintained restraint.
“At this point in time, for all the right, valid and cogent reasons, since both the gentlemen that you referred to have served in the party over a period of time on responsible positions, they are well advised to restrain themselves and now that decision has been taken, we are in an election mode, they should cooperate and they should go all out in order to ensure that the party gets elected in both these states,” said Tewari.