As if responding to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo call, dozens of Congress leaders and hundreds of lawmakers embarked on a mass exodus from the grand old party in pursuit of national unity and integrity. Everyone who has quit the party has raised questions over Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, his organisational abilities and the policies he stands for. Instead of listening to those voices, Rahul Gandhi is busy making baseless accusations against freedom fighters and maligning democracy of Bharat on the foreign soil. What is ailing the Congress? Why does Rahul Gandhi happy making celebratory speeches in foreign universities? What are the things that old Congressman with nationalist credentials find problematic? To get answers to these questions, let us understand what ex-Congress leaders, from Ghulam Nabi Azad to Anil Antony, have to say about why they left the party:
There are many reasons behind the downfall of the Congress Party. From its stand on the issues related to the national interest to its policies for the people, the party in recent years has struggled to gain people’s confidence. Against this backdrop, many of its senior leaders have left the party, citing its policies and Interference by Rahul Gandhi & family into day-to-day functioning of the party . As per reports, about three dozen senior Congress leaders have deserted the Congress in the last nine years and have joined the BJP and other parties since 2014.
In 2020, in an interview to The Indian Express, the then Congress leader, Kapil Sibal, while replying to a question on Congress’ poor performance in Bihar Assembly elections, said that the people of the country, not just in Bihar but wherever by-elections were held , obviously don’t consider the Congress to be an effective alternative.
“A colleague of mine who is part of the CWC made a statement the other day that ‘I hope the Congress introspects’. If for the six years, the Congress has not introspected what hope do we have for the introspection now? We know what is wrong with the Congress,” he added.
Importantly, suppose we exclude Malikarjun Kharge’s election as Congress President (a loyalist of the Gandhi family, especially to Rahu Gandhi). In that case, only Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have led the party since 2000. On the other hand, eight different people led BJP. Therefore, it is evident where the problem lies in Congress.
Here is the list of leaders who have left Congress and joined BJP or other parties:
On April 8, 2023, former Congress leader and the great-grandson of C Rajagopalachari, CR Kesavan, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He announced his decision to quit Congress stating that he has not seen any “vestige of the value that made him work for the party for over two decades”.
N Kiran Kumar Reddy
On April 7, former Congress leader and last Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh N Kiran Kumar Reddy joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Prahlad Joshi, General Secretary Arun Singh and MP K Laxman at BJP headquarters.
On March 13, N Kiran Kumar Reddy sent his resignation to Congress’ national president Mallikarjun Kharge writing, “Please accept this letter as my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress.”
He became undivided Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister on November 11, 2010, but resigned on March 10, 2014, to protest against Congress’ decision to bifurcate the state. He resigned from the Congress in 2014 too, to protest against the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh and carve out Telangana. However, he re-joined the Congress in 2018 after meeting with Congress leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi.
Jyotiraditya Scindia
Jyotiraditya Scindia, who has a considerable influence amongst the voters in Madhya Pradesh, ended his decades-long association with the Congress and joined the BJP in 2020. While joining the saffron camp, Scindia had said that Congress is not what it used to be.
He joined BJP with a bunch of party MLAs from Kamal Nath’s Government in Madhya Pradesh which led the saffron party to return to power in Madhya Pradesh.
“I wanted to serve the people of my state and country. But I could not do this anymore within this party,” he said. He is now serving as Minister of Civil Aviation in the Modi Government.
Anil Antony
On April 6, Congress veteran and former Union Defence Minister AK Antony’s son Anil Antony joined the BJP in the presence of Union Ministers Piyush Goyal. He wrote in his redacted resignation letter, “However, by now I have been made well aware that you, your colleagues, and the coterie around the leadership are only keen to work with a bunch of sycophants and chamchas, who would unquestionably be at your beck and call. This has become the lone criterion of merit. Sadly, we don’t have much common ground.”
Former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh
In September 2022, former Congress leader and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh joined the BJP after merging his party, Punjab Lok Congress, with the BJP. He quit the Congress to form his own party after his unceremonious exit from the party over differences with top leadership. He was inducted into the BJP in Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Narendra Singh Tomar’s presence.
Himanta Biswa Sarma
A key strategist in the then-ruling Congress in Assam in 2015 and the rest of the North East, Himanta Biswa Sarma ended his 23 years of association with the grand old party in 2015 and joined the BJP.
Himanta Biswa Sarma’s 1,600-word resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi in 2015 says, “Rahul Gandhi was arrogant to me and Assam Congress MLAs who wanted Tarun Gogoi’s ouster, and said it was his prerogative to change chief ministers. He believed he was mightier than the people of Assam.”
Ghulam Nabi Azad
On August 26, 2022, former Congress leader and ex-Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad, resigned from Congress. He wrote, “The Indian National Congress has lost both the will and the ability under the tutelage of the coterie that runs the AICC to fight for what is right for India,” in his resignation letter.
Jayanthi Natarajan
In January 2015, former Union Minister for Environment, Jayanthi Natarajan announced her resignation from the Congress. In the letter, she complained about being forced to act upon “directives” issued by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi during her stint as a minister in the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, reported the mint.
Jitin Prasada
In June 2021, former Congress leader and former Union Minister Jitin Prasada joined the BJP.
He said, “I have a three-generation connection with Congress, so I took this important decision after a lot of deliberation. In the last 8-10 years I have felt that if there is one party that is truly national, it is the BJP. Other parties are regional but this is a national party,” upon joining the BJP.
RPN Singh
Kunwar Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh, a member of the royal family of Padrauna, Kushinagar in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, and former Union Minister also left the Congress party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2022. He was considered a member of ‘Team Rahul Gandhi’ in Congress. RPN Singh was among the Congress leaders who had opposed the party’s stand on Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.
Lack of democracy within the grand old party, thanks to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and growing tendency to compromise with national interest are the common reasons cited by all these leaders while breaking their long association with the Congress. Surrounded by the sycophants, can brother-sister duo get the message of mass exodus from their family-run party is a million-dollar question.
