JK Cong leader RS Chib quits party, says party lost its momentum in contributing towards the future of my state
Aug 26, 2022
New Delhi [India], August 26 : Senior Congress leader and former minister RS Chib also resigned from the primary membership of the Congress and said that Congress has lost its momentum in contributing towards the future of Jammu and Kashmir, adding that the people require a decisive leader like Ghulam Nabi Azad to guide them towards a better future.
Trouble is mounting for Indian National Congress as several leaders tendered their resignation following the resignation of senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from all party positions on Friday.
"We knew he would resign, had been having these talks for the past 2 months. Ghulam Nabi Azad was pushed against the wall by the party High Command, he had no choice but to quit the party & it's primary membership," RS Chib said.
He said that Congress lost decisive leadership both at the central and the state level.
"This loss caused party's graph to decline... GN Azad is a leader himself, his decision is his own. But we will stay with him in whatever he decides," Chib added.
Chib, in his letter of resignation to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, wrote, "...I feel that in the prevailing circumstances, Congress Party has lost its momentum in contributing towards the future of my state."
"Keeping in view the turmoil that the State of J&K has witnessed over the past decades, the people require a decisive leader like Jb. Ghulam Nabi Azad to guide them towards a better future. I feel that Congress party has not been able to play the role that is expected of it," he added.
Citing differences in the views of him and those at the "helm of the Party affairs", he said that it would be the "best course of action" to part ways with the party.
Chib's resignation came after 5 other Congress MLAs, including GM Saroori, Haji Abdul Rashid, Mohd Amin Bhat, Gulzar Ahmad Wani and Choudhary Mohd Akram resigned in support of Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Earlier in the day, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday resigned from all positions of the Congress party including the primary membership of the party.
"The Indian National Congress has lost both the will and the ability under the tutelage of the coterie that runs the AICC to fight for what is right for India," Azad wrote in his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi.
In his letter of resignation to the Congress interim president, Azad had resigned from all the party posts, including its primary membership.
Azad cited the "immaturity" of Rahul Gandhi, whom he blamed for "demolishing the consultative mechanism" in the party.
In a hard-hitting 5 page note to party interim president Sonia Gandhi, Azad claimed that a coterie runs the party while she was just a nominal head and all the major decisions were taken by "Shri Rahul Gandhi or rather worse his security guards and PAs".
The development comes days after Azad resigned from the organizational post of Jammu and Kashmir.
Recounting his long association with the Congress and his close relationship with Indira Gandhi, Azad said the situation in the Congress party 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 has been coerced to sign on lists prepared by the coterie that runs the AICC sitting in 24 Akbar Road," Azad wrote.
Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, Azad wrote, "Since the 2019 elections the situation in the party has only worsened. After. Rahul Gandhi stepped down in a 'huff' and not before insulting all the senior Party functionaries who have given their lives to the party in a meeting of the extended Working Committee, you took over as interim President. A position that you have continue to hold even today for the past three years."
Azad said that it was "worse still the 'remote control model' that demolished the institutional integrity of the UPA government now got applied to the Indian National Congress."
He continued the attack on Rahul Gandhi but praised Sonia Gandhi for playing a "sterling" role as Congress President in both the UPA governments.
Azad's resignation followed a series of exits of senior leaders from the party, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jaiveer Shergil, Jitin Prasada, amongst others.
Azad's resignation comes ahead of the 2024 elections and after indications that elections to the post of Congress chief would be postponed yet again. The Congress top leadership has announced a 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.