‘Good luck & goodbye’: Jakhar quits Congress
Drops bombshell via FB live, trains guns on Congress leaders Ambika Soni, Harish Rawat, Harish Chaudhary and Tariq Anwar
CHANDIGARH: In a setback for the grand old party, former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Sunil Jakhar on Saturday quit the party, wishing it “good luck and goodbye”.
Jakhar dropped the bombshell on the beleaguered state unit via a Facebook live even as the Congress top brass was huddled at a three-day Chintan Shivir (brainstorming session) being held in Udaipur, Rajasthan, to discuss the party’s revamp and its strategy for the 2024 parliamentary elections.
The disgruntled leader had initially planned to travel to Udaipur and hold a press conference there, but later changed his mind and shared ‘dil ki baat’ from his house in Panchkula, calling it his “parting gift” to the Congress. Before going live, he also dropped the Congress and its flag from his social media handles. He, however, did not give any indication about joining another party. When contacted, the veteran leader said his aim was to show the party the mirror.
Jakhar, who headed the state Congress for more than four years before being replaced with Navjot Singh Sidhu in July 2021, has been furious ever since the party leadership issued a show-cause notice and then removed him from all posts on April 30 for alleged anti-party activities in the run-up to the state elections.
The disciplinary action was taken on Punjab affairs in-charge Harish Chaudhary’s complaint to Congress president Sonia Gandhi that his (Jakhar’s) statements had dented the party’s electoral
The former Lok Sabha MP’S annoyance was evident from his 35-minute harangue on social media during which he took shots at several Congress leaders, particularly Rajya Sabha member Ambika Soni and successive Punjab affairs in-charges of the party. Beginning his livestream by calling the brainstorming session a “formality”, Jakhar said the Congress is facing an existential crisis, but they are behaving as if the responsibility of the nation rests on its shoulders and set up six committees on foreign, economic and agriculture policies when the need of the hour is to decide how to save the party.
“Yeh toh chinta ka shivir hona chahiya tha na ki chintan ka. If they were really worried, another committee would have been set up on the poll debacle in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa,” he said.
Considered to be close to Rahul Gandhi earlier, Jakhar said he is a very fine and upright person and should take reins of the Congress in his hands. “He should learn to differentiate between friend and foe as well as distance himself from sycophants. If you cannot distinguish between friend and foe, then understand to differentiate between assets and liabilities,” he said, stressing that the Gandhi family’s presence was necessary for the Congress to function as one party.