Top Congress ministers offer to quit

Reports of four top Congress ministers writing to party chief Sonia Gandhi seeking permission to resign in order to take up party work, just when the budget session resumed after recess on Tuesday, have created a political flutter.

The four ministers who allegedly offered to resign included — Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Law and Justice and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi.

However, two of the ministers refuted such reports and denied having written any letter to Sonia Gandhi offering to quit. “I met Congress president with regard to the Andhra Pradesh bye-elections and never wrote any letter,” said Ravi.

Earlier in the day, talks were doing the round that Ravi was likely to be made Congress general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh amid speculation about a change of role ever since he was made the pointperson for party affairs in the state.
“I am very happy doing my work and will continue. I have been sent to different states at different times. This time I was asked to look into Andhra Pradesh for the by-polls and I went there for a few days,” said Ravi.

Azad, present Congress in-charge of Andhra Pradesh is finding it difficult to handle party affairs in the state amid calls for a separate Telangana state.

Ramesh also refuted the reports. “I have written no such letter,” Ramesh said, when asked about the issue.

However, the meeting of Ramesh and Khurshid with Sonia Gandhi at her residence in the evening fuelled speculation. But there was no official word on what they discussed.

Other top brass of the party including Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel, Pawan Kumar Bansal and V Narayanasami were also present at the meeting which sources said was held to discuss the party’s strategy in the Parliament.

According to sources, Khurshid had written to Sonia Gandhi immediately after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election results last month, explaining the scene after the party's drubbing in the state.