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'GNA's DNA has been Modi-fied': What Congress leaders said on Ghulam Nabi Azad quitting
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation letter where he slammed former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is “inappropriate” and beyond his “comprehension”.
The Congress may have faced a huge setback with senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's exit but some of the party leaders are not being very kind in their farewell messages. A very strongly-worded tweet was put out on Friday by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh.
Also Read | Post Ghulam Nabi Azad's exit, five J&K Congress leaders resign from party
Leading the party's counter-attack after Azad's strongly-worded letter, Jairam Ramesh said Azad's “DNA has been Modi-fied” in what could be considered a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “A man who has been treated with the greatest respect by the Congress leadership has betrayed it by his vicious personal attacks which reveal his true character. GNA's DNA has been modi-fied,” Ramesh tweeted.
Azad's shock resignation and his five-page blistering note to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi wherein he went all-out against former party chief and her son Rahul Gandhi has taken the party by storm. Azad blamed Rahul for demolishing the “consultative mechanism” of the party and also sidelining senior and experienced leaders who have “given their lives” to Congress.
Now, several Congress leaders, besides Jairam Ramesh, have come forward with their responses to Azad's resignation and bomb of a letter to Sonia. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said that he felt sorry to “read the judgement and statement” of Azad. “Congress gave him respect and recognition. For 42 years, he has not remained without office - his words are inappropriate, beyond my comprehension,” he added.
The chief minister said that Azad is a known leader because of Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Sonia.
Congress leader Anand Sharma, who was part of the G-23 rebel group with Azad, said the resignation will “pain all Congressmen” and termed the development “serious”. “I'm personally shocked. This situation was entirely avoidable. We were hopeful that there would be serious introspection but unfortunately, that process was subverted,” he added. The G-23 rebel group had written to Sonia Gandhi about two years on the urgent need of internal reforms.
Also Read | Ghulam Nabi Azad’s hint on next political move after Congress exit
Jaiveer Shergill, who quit the Congress party on Wednesday, maintained his attacks on the grand old party, saying that Azad's resignation and the note to Sonia shows that leaders “across age groups are disappointed and frustrated by this entire ‘coterie’ culture that thrives in Indian National Congress”.
Another G-23 leader, Sandeep Dikshit, spoke about Azad's resignation and how it hit him with a “sense of dismay and betrayal”. In a letter addressed to the now former Congress veteran, Dikshit said that when he joined the G-23 unit, they had “raised banner of reform, not the banner of revolt”. “The Indian National Congress will be…much weaker without Ghulam Nabi Azad, but…the Azad who authored G-23 letter, not the one who authored this resignation,” the letter read.
