Will resign if ‘collusion with BJP’ remark is proven: Ghulam Nabi Azad over Rahul Gandhi’s jibe

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the 23 Congress leaders who wrote letter to Sonia Ganhi, has said he will quit the party if he is found to be colluding with the BJP.

Azad’s explanation came at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) over the letter written by him and other party leaders calling for sweeping reforms in the organisation.

When the issue was being discussed in the meeting, Rahul Gandhi said this (writing a letter to Sonia Gandhi for reforms in party leadership) was done in collusion with BJP, according to sources.

Gandhi also questioned the timing of a letter to Sonia Gandhi by party colleagues for reforms in the party and criticised the move saying that it came when the interim party President was admitted to a hospital.

He also said that the letter was written at a time when Congress government in Rajasthan was facing a crisis, the right place to discuss what was written in the letter was CWC meeting and not the media, sources said.

Even as Sonia Gandhi asked CWC members to relieve her from the top post, senior party leaders Manmohan Singh and AK Antony said that Sonia Gandhi should continue till a new party President is elected, sources said.

The crucial meeting of the CWC is being held today after a controversy erupted over a letter by more than 20 senior leaders calling for ‘full time’ active leadership, sweeping reforms and raising questions about the party’s condition and direction, as well as demanding the election of the CWC.

Manmohan Singh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Amarinder Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, PL Punia, KC Venugopal and AK Antony among others are present at the virtual meeting.

Sonia Gandhi was appointed as an interim President on August 10, 2019, by the CWC, after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as party chief, taking the responsibility for party’s disastrous defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Congress seems divided over the issue. Gandhi family loyalists and Congress Chief Ministers took on the section of leaders who signed the letter and rallied behind the Gandhi family, calling for Sonia Gandhi to stay or Rahul Gandhi to take charge again. (ANI)