Was forced to leave my home: Ghulam Nabi Azad on exit from Congress

Days after his exit from the grand old party, former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday tore into the Congress and said that he was forced to leave his 'home'.

"I have been forced to leave my home," Azad told reporters in Delhi.

He added that Modi is an excuse and that the Congress has had an issue with him since the G-23 letter. The Group of 23 leaders, or G-23 had last year written to Congress President Sonia Gandhi over leadership reforms in the party.

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Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "I didn't sleep for six days before and after writing the letter (G23) because we gave blood for the party. People there today are useless... It's saddening that Congress has such spokesmen who don't even know about us..."

"They never wanted anyone to write to them, question them... Several (Congress) meetings happened, but not even a single suggestion was taken," Azad said.

He further added, "I thought PM Modi to be a crude man but he showed humanity."

Speaking to the media here on Monday, he said that the Congress does not respect its leaders and "people don't know about our contribution to the party".

While praising the Prime Minister, he said, "I had understood Modi was a crude man as he is not married, does not have children but he has shown his humane side when he spoke in Parliament about the incident that happened with the Gujarati tourists when I was the Chief Minister."

"My respect for Sonia Gandhi is same as 30 years back, respect for Rahul Gandhi is same as that befitting Indira Gandhi's family, Rajiv-Sonia Gandhi's son. Personally, I pray for his long life. We tried to make him a successful leader but he's not interested," said Azad.

He also said that Rahul Gandhi was not interested in politics despite efforts from the party. "It was Rahul who hugged the Prime Minister in Parliament not me," Azad said, and added that since the letter seeking reform in the Congress was written in 2020, the party has a problem as no one wants to be questioned.

In his resignation letter, Azad had said, "Unfortunately, the situation in the Congress party has reached such a point of no return that now 'proxies' are being propped up to take over the leadership of the party. This experiment is doomed to fail because the party has been so comprehensively destroyed that the situation has become irretrievable. Moreover, the 'chosen one' would be nothing more than a puppet on a string."

He said at the national level the Congress has conceded the political space available to the BJP and state level space to regional parties.

(With inputs from agency)