Gourav Vallabh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday, hours after resigning from the Congress, saying he can neither raise anti-Sanatan slogans, nor abuse "wealth creators" day in and day out. Former Bihar Congress president Anil Sharma also joined the BJP in the presence of its national general secretary Vinod Tawde.
Gourav Vallabh, a Congress spokesperson often seen on news channels, shared his resignation letter written to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on social media platform X (former Twitter).
He said he was “not feeling comfortable” with the “directionless” way the party was moving.
Gourav Vallabh said, “I can neither raise anti-Sanatan slogans nor abuse wealth creators day in and day out. Therefore, I resign from all posts and primary membership of the party.”
At the joining ceremony in the BJP, Gourav Vallabh slammed the Congress over its economic policies. He said the former party ridicules the policies of reforms, liberalisation and globalisation pursued by former prime minister Manmohan Singh because of its dislike for Modi whom its leaders abuse all day.
"Wealth creating cannot be a crime in the country," he added.
{{/usCountry}}"Wealth creating cannot be a crime in the country," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Gourav Vallabh also said he always pursued issues-based politics and was attracted to Modi's agenda of “Viksit Bharat”.
He added that he always wanted the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and could not accept the Congress's decision to not go to the consecration ceremony.
"The Congress leaders and allies raised questions on Sanatan Dharma but the party gave no response," he said.
In the two-page letter, the former Congress spokesperson also alleged that Congress's stand on economic matters had "always been to humiliate and abuse the wealth creators of the country."
"Today, we have turned against those economic liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation (LPG) policies, for which the world has given us credit for implementing in the country. Is it wrong to earn money by doing business in our country?" he wrote.
"When I joined the party, my only aim was to use my ability and capability in economic matters in the interest of the country. We may not be in power, but we could have presented the party's economic policy-making in the national interest in a better way in our manifesto and elsewhere. But, this effort was not made at the party level," he said.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has been critical of industry bigwigs such as Gautam Adani and has alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given them undue favours.
Gourav Vallabh had contested the Rajasthan assembly election from the Udaipur constituency in 2023. However, he lost to the BJP candidate with a margin of around 32,000 votes.