Ghulam Nabi Azad was Chaprasi of Congress leaders: MP Manish Tewari

New Delhi: Congress MP Manish Tewari on Saturday called Ghulam Nabi Azad a chaprasi (peon) of Congress leaders. Azad quit Congress on Friday.

Speaking to news agency ANI over the attack by Azad on Congress pary, Tewari said, “Don't want to go into merits of Mr Azad's letter, he'd be in best position to explain. But strange that people who don't have capacity to fight a ward election, were "chaprasis" of Congress leaders, give give "gyaan" about party. It is laughable.”

On the crisis looming over Congress, Tewari said, "We are in a serious situation, we have been in a serious situation. I think what happened is regrettable, unfortunate and in my estimation perhaps it was avoidable."

pic.twitter.com/9dKLO2y2S8

— ANI (@ANI) August 27, 2022

Ghulam Nabi Azad's five-page resignation letter on Friday delivered the maximum sting by describing former Congress president Rahul Gandhi as "immature" and "childish" and accused the leadership of "foisting a non-serious individual" at the helm of the party.

In his letter addressed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Azad mentioned Rahul Gandhi seven times, accusing him of running the party through a "new coterie of inexperienced sycophants".

Azad, 73, who has been associated with the Congress for nearly five decades, also attacked party chief Sonia Gandhi for applying the "remote control model that demolished the institutional integrity of the UPA government" to the party.

Key points from Ghulam Nabi Azad's letter of resignation from Congress:

* Azad recounted his long association with the Congress since he joined the party in the 1970s.

* Azad accuses Rahul Gandhi of demolishing the consultative mechanism within the party.

* All senior and experienced leaders were sidelined and new coterie of inexperienced sycophants started running the affairs of the party.

* Azad terms tearing of a government ordinance by Rahul Gandhi in full media view as a "glaring example" of "immaturity".

* This single action contributed significantly to the defeat of the UPA government in 2014.

* Azad said recommendations of the brainstorming sessions in Pachmarhi (1998), Shimla (2003) and Jaipur (2013) to revitalise the party were never properly implemented.

* The detailed action plan to revitalise the party in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections "lying in the storeroom of the AICC for the past 9 years.

* No effort was made to even examine them seriously despite repeated reminders to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

* Under Sonia Gandhi's leadership since 2014 and subsequently that of Rahul Gandhi, Congress has lost two Lok Sabha elections in a "humiliating manner". The party also lost 39 out of the 49 assembly elections held between 2014 and 2022.

* Situation in party worsened since 2019 elections. Senior party functionaries insulted at extended Working Committee meetings where Rahul Gandhi stepped down as President in a "huff".

* "Remote control model" that demolished the institutional integrity of the UPA government now applies to Congress.

* You (Sonia Gandhi) just a nominal figurehead, all important decisions taken by Rahul Gandhi or "rather worse his security guards and personal assistants".

* When 23 senior leaders flagged the "abysmal drift" in the party, the "coterie chose to unleash its sycophants on us and got us attacked".

* Congress has reached point of no return, "proxies" were being propped up to take over the leadership of the party, an apparent reference to the upcoming election of the party president.

* This experiment doomed to fail as the "chosen one" would be nothing more than a "puppet on a string".

* Congress has conceded political space to BJP and state level space to regional parties because the leadership has tried to "foist a non-serious individual at the helm of the party.

* Entire organisational election process is "farce and a sham" and a "giant fraud" on the party.

* Before starting Bharat Jodo Yatra, the leadership should have undertaken a 'Congress Jodo' exercise.