Srinagar: Ghulam Nabi Azad’s resignation had nothing to do with ideological differences with the party but was mainly due to personal reasons, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Tariq Hameed Karra said on Saturday.
He also said Azad’s resignation was not surprising because for the “last two years, there have been murmurs about it”.
Talking to reporters here, Karra said, “Rather than having convictional or ideological differences, Azad’s resignation was based on personal differences or animosity. When he says he was not being taken onboard, he should remember he was onboard for the last 50 years. When he says sycophants were there, perhaps it would have been said about him also before.”
He said there was no mention of ideological differences anywhere in Azad’s resignation letter “but it was purely on personal grounds”.
The Congress leader claimed that the prime minister “gave a tearful send off to Azad after he retired from Rajya Sabha and made it clear that he (Azad) will not be wasted and will soon be appointed on a special mission”.
Karra said he was working independently in Jammu and Kashmir for the last few months and had raised questions on the leadership of the party.
“Why does Azad choose to show his resentment whenever the Congress president is not well, is hospitalized, or outside for treatment?” he asked.
Karra said the public perception is that the BJP will benefit from Azad’s resignation.
“The situation we have been seeing for the last couple of years, the way the prime minister gave a tearful send off to Azad and the sequences after that, it seems there is a hidden hand behind the move and its direct or indirect benefit will reach the BJP,” he claimed.
Karra said the BJP has “understood that the fragmentation process it had started in J&K has not succeeded and so, a new entity is being propped up”.
He added that though the BJP will try a new sort of facilitation, the Congress, especially in J&K, will fight out this new attempt of fragmentation.
Asked if some J&K Congress leaders will leave the party, Karra said their track record should be checked.
“All those who have left the party have been direct or indirect beneficiaries of Azad and not the Congress. Also, none among those who left are intellectual entities because it has been seen that Azad has kept only mediocre people around him and he gets uncomfortable if there is some intellectual or educated person or someone whose image is better than him,” he claimed.
