Jakhar gives Congress a 'parting gift' after Sonia's 'collective effort' message

In the latest in a string of desertions from the party, former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sunil Jakhar on Saturday resigned through Facebook Live a day after Sonia Gandhi gave a message of unity, asking party leaders to pay back the debt they owe to the party.

Jakhar, the son of Congress veteran late Balram Jakhar, quit with a pungent remark nearly predicting doomsday for Congress saying, "It is my parting gift to the party. These are my last words to Congressmen. Good luck and goodbye Congress."

His remarks came in the middle of the Chintan Shivir, an ongoing, three-day brainstorming meet in Udaipur in which Congress chief Sonia Gandhi urged for "huge collective efforts" for the resurgence of the party and told the senior leaders that it is time to pay off the debt of the party which has "given us a lot".

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Concern for Congress mounts as desertions of senior leaders from the party continue even as the AICC huddles in a brainstorming meet to thrash out a winning strategy. The party is out of power at the Centre for the past eight years and its presence has been reduced to just two states in the country.

Jakhar is the second senior leader in Punjab after Ashwani Kumar, to leave after the Punjab poll debacle. Recent actions of party leaders like Navjot Sidhu praising AAP Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann have also raised eyebrows.

K V Thomas was expelled on Thursday for alleged anti-party activities after he insisted that he would campaign for a ruling LDF candidate in Kerala and shared the stage with CPI(M)'s Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in a bypoll meeting.

Jakhar quit days after the Congress high command decided to remove him and Thomas from all party positions and suspended five of its MLAs in Meghalaya for anti-party activities.

Jakhar, 68, has been unhappy for some time and has taken potshots at Rahul Gandhi. He was dismissive of the Chintan Shivir deliberations saying the meeting was not more than a "formality". “Coteries have now turned into gangs”, he said, days after he had asked Gandhi to at least differentiate between an "asset and a liability" if not between friend and foe.

A member of Team Amarinder, Jakhar was an aspirant for the CM post in Punjab after the former was made to resign last year. The grand old party went to polls with a new team and lost badly.