‘Forced to leave home’: Ghulam Nabi Azad after quitting Congress

Azad said, “Modi is an excuse, they have had an issue with me since the G23 letter was written.

Days after resigning from Congress, veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said that he has been “forced to leave” his home.

Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Azad said, “Modi is an excuse, they have had an issue with me since the G23 letter was written. They never wanted anyone to write to them, question them… Several (Congress) meetings happened, but not even a single suggestion was taken.”

In his resignation letter addressed to Sonia Gandhi, Azad had accused Rahul Gandhi of “demolishing” the “entire consultative mechanism” in the party, sidelining all “senior and experienced” leaders, and letting a “new coterie” of “inexperienced sycophants” run the party.

Azad is the fourth leader of the G-23 to leave the party after Kapil Sibal, Jitin Prasada and Yoganand Shastri.

Before Azad, only a few leaders had attacked Rahul in such a blistering fashion after they left. The first perhaps was Himanta Biswa Sarma, who joined the BJP after quitting Congress.

Azad was a member of the Congress Working Committee and a member of the Sonia Gandhi-headed political affairs group.