Never asked Rahul to prove allegations of colluding with BJP, clarifies Ghulam Nabi Azad

New Delhi [India], Aug 24 : Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who on Monday offered to resign from the Congress party, clarified in a tweet later today stating that Rahul Gandhi never accused party members who had written a letter about leadership changes of colluding with the BJP.
"I asked other party leaders, who are outside the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and not Rahul Gandhi, to prove their allegations of us colluding with the BJP," Azad said on Monday.
Azad was present in the virtual meeting of the CWC being held after more than 20 leaders wrote to party interim President Sonia Gandhi calling for sweeping reforms in the party.
The Rajya Sabha MP's clarification came following certain media reports that claimed that he had asked the Wayanad MP to prove that the letter written by him, along with other party leaders, was in collusion with the BJP during the CWC meeting surfaced.
"A section of media is wrongly attributing that, in CWC I told Shri Rahul Gandhi to prove that the letter written by us is in collusion with BJP-'let me make it very clear that Shri Rahul Gandhi has neither in CWC nor outside said that this letter was written at the behest of BJP'," Azad said in his clarification through a tweet.
Azad said that he had offered his resignation after hearing remarks not from Rahul Gandhi but from certain other Congress leaders about collusion with the BJP.
"What I said was, yesterday some Congress person had said that we did it at behest of BJP and in that context I said "It is most unfortunate that some colleagues (outside CWC) have accused us of collusion with BJP, and if those people can prove this allegation, I will resign"," he added in a subsequent tweet.
Meanwhile, even as Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi asked the Congress Working Committee (CWC) members to relive her from the top post, senior party leaders Manmohan Singh and AK Antony said that she should continue till a new party President is elected, sources said.
Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi asked CWC members "to begin deliberations towards the process of transition to relieve her from the duty of party chief", sources said.
In the virtual meeting, she asked the CWC members to proceed with the process of electing a new President, sources said.
The crucial meeting of the CWC is being held today after a controversy erupted over a letter by more than 20 senior leaders calling for 'full time' active leadership, sweeping reforms and raising questions about the party's condition and direction, as well as demanding the election of the CWC.
Sonia Gandhi was appointed as an interim President on August 10, 2019, by the CWC, after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as party chief, taking the responsibility for party's disastrous defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Gandhi family loyalists and Congress Chief Ministers took on the section of leaders who signed the letter and rallied behind the Gandhi family, calling for Sonia Gandhi to stay or Rahul Gandhi to take charge again.