JOIN USGandhi loyalist and former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar quits Cong ahead of Punjab polls
Ashwani Kumar, a Gandhi loyalist and former Law Minister who was in the eye of a storm in 2013 for vetting a CBI status report on coal scam, quit the Congress which he joined 46 years ago, a week ahead of Punjab Assembly elections.
A former Rajya Sabha MP between 2002 and 2016, Kumar wrote to party president Sonia Gandhi saying he was quitting the party as he concluded that in the “present circumstances and consistent” with his dignity, he “can subserve larger national causes outside the party fold”.
“I am accordingly quitting the party after a long association of 46 years and hope to proactively pursue public causes inspired by the idea of transformative leadership, based on the dignitarian promise of a liberal democracy envisioned by our freedom fighters,” he said in his short resignation letter.
Kumar has not spelt out his future plans but said what the future holds cannot be predicted today. He said he has not thought of joining any other party.
He has been a staunch Gandhi family loyalist and known to be close to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Of late, he has been disgruntled over not being considered for assignments but has come out against the G-23 or change seekers when they sought clarity in party leadership.
An inkling of a change in Kumar’s mind could be seen in a recent tweet and TV appearances when he found fault with Rajya Sabha Chief Whip Jairam Ramesh for criticising Ghulam Nabi Azad for not declining Padma Bhushan by the Narendra Modi government.
However, the resignation has come as a surprise as it comes just days ahead of Punjab elections. Though he is not a mass leader in Punjab, the action is bound to create a flutter in political circles.
Kumar, who joined the Congress in 1976 in Jalandhar, had to resign from Manmohan Singh Cabinet in 2013 after it came to light that he vetted the CBI status report. However, he was soon rehabilitated as the Prime Minister’s envoy to Japan in Cabinet rank.
Explaining his resignation, Kumar said the Congress has lost touch with the ground reality and no longer reflected the national mood. The party is facing an "existential" challenge, he said.
"Lack of inspirational leadership, absence of a sense of belonging and debilitating processes of internal functioning combined to make possible a painful decision to end a 46-year-long association with the Congress with which two earlier generations of my family were closely connected during the freedom struggle," Kumar was quoted by PTI as saying.
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