Ghulam Nabi Azad refuses to be No. 2 in Congress, says youth not willing to work with veterans: Report

Ghulam Nabi Azad reportedly refused to be the number 2 of the party and said the youth running the party do not want to work with veterans like him.

Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad has refused to work in the number two position in teh Congress after Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi had offered him the post, news agency ANI reported citing sources. The meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Ghulam Nabi Azad took place a few days ago, before the party announced its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election, where Azad's name did not feature. Also Read: Pawan Khera tweets 'kami reh gayi' after Cong denies RS ticket, Nagma says…

In the conversation, Sonia Gandhi and Ghulam Nabi Azad did not talk about the Rajya Sabha election, the report said adding that the J&K Congress leader was asked whether he would be comfortable working in the number two position in the organisation.

"Today a generation gap has come between the youth running the party and us. There is a difference between our thinking and their thinking. So the youth are not willing to work with the party veterans," Azad told Sonia Gandhi, as quoted by ANI.

It is not yet clear what role Sonia Gandhi thought for Azad as the No 2 in the party. Whether he will be made the vice president or the working president of the general secretary was not explicitly told to him

Ghulam Nabi Azad is also a face of G-23, the group of Congress leaders who had written to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 demanding an overhaul of the party and thereby came to be known as the 'rebel group'. Apart from Ghulam Nabi Azad, G-23 member Anand Sharma has also been denied of the Rajya Sabha ticket. But G-23 members Mukul Wasnik and Vivek Tankha have got nominations.

Ghulam Nabi Azad was the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha before he retired in 2021. Mallikarjun Kharge is the present Leader of Opposition.

(With ANI inputs)