JOIN USCongress leader Hooda expresses concern over multiple desertions
Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday expressed deep concern over recent developments in the party's Punjab unit and multiple desertions, and said the party leadership should hold deliberations on these matters.
He said weakening of the Congress is also not in national interest.
"Why are such things happening? The party should do 'manthan'. Efforts should be made to find a solution to these things," said Hooda, who is part of the G-23 group which wrote a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last year seeking organisational overhaul.
When asked to comment on former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh's emphatic statement that he will quit the party, Hooda said it is his personal decision.
Commenting on multiple desertions recently, Hooda, who is also the leader of opposition in the Haryana Assembly, said not just in Punjab, in Goa too, a senior leader has left the party.
"I am very much concerned about the future of my party. Weakening of the Congress is also not in national interest,” Hooda told a news channel.
Former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, who recently quit the Congress, had joined the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday and called for uniting various factions of the grand old party under the leadership of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to fight the BJP.
Hooda said many others, including some senior leaders, have left the party.
Amarinder Singh had resigned as the chief minister of Punjab on September 18 after accusing the Congress of humiliating him.
Earlier in the day, while some senior leaders of the party came out in strong defence of the top leadership and attacked Kapil Sibal and other G-23 leaders, Hooda came in Sibal's defence.
Hooda, while referring to the protest by Congress workers outside Sibal's Delhi residence a day before, said this is something which is not part of Congress' culture.
If any one has any difference of views, the same should be brought up and discussed at the party forum, he said.
Sibal said at a press conference that the G-23 grouping is "not a Jee Huzur 23" and will continue to put forth the views and will continue to repeat the demands.
Carrying 'Get Well Soon Kapil Sibal' placards and raising slogans against Sibal, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) workers had protested outside his Jor Bagh residence, saying they were "hurt" by his remarks.
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