As many as 20 leaders of the Congress' Jammu and Kashmir unit on Friday tendered their resignations in support of former party veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad. Azad had resigned from all party posts last month from the Congress, delivering one of its major jolts in recent times. Azad’s shock exit that came along with a stinging letter was announced days after another senior Congress leader – Anand Sharma – stepped down from a crucial post in the party in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh.
According to news agency ANI, the 20 leaders who put in their papers on Friday were members of the District Congress Committee, Jammu North region.
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The resignations are said to have followed party leader Rajinder Prasad’s exit from all posts in the Congress. Prasad is the son of late Master Beli Ram Sharma from Nowshera Rajouri. Like Azad, he blamed the 'coterie' system in his resignation letter addressed to the party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi.
{{/usCountry}}The resignations are said to have followed party leader Rajinder Prasad’s exit from all posts in the Congress. Prasad is the son of late Master Beli Ram Sharma from Nowshera Rajouri. Like Azad, he blamed the 'coterie' system in his resignation letter addressed to the party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi.
{{/usCountry}}"The party is today surrounded by a coterie of yes men and parachuters. As a result, they are ignorant of the general public's reality and sorrows, which leads to this big old party's demise," Prasad wrote in his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi.
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On Thursday, 36 Congress leaders, including leaders of the National Students' Union of India, resigned in solidarity with Azad. Before that, another 64 senior Congress leaders resigned from the party, in what was termed a mass resignation following Azad's exit.
On August 26, Azad resigned from all posts of the party citing the "immaturity" of Rahul Gandhi whom he blamed for "demolishing the consultative mechanism" in the party.
In a five-page much-discussed letter to Sonia Gandhi, Azad said 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".
According to reports, Azad is planning to launch a new national party. Many leaders who snapped ties with the Congress post-Azad's exit are said to be up for joining the new party to be floated by Azad in the coming days.
(With agency inputs)