Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday said that Rahul Gandhi is the main reason why many politicians are not with the Congress today, and claimed that one has to be “spineless” to remain in the party, reported PTI.
Azad, who has floated the Democratic Progressive Azad Party after his exit, further said that the then UPA II government was “weak” by not going ahead with the Ordinance in 2013 despite Rahul Gandhi opposing it. He noted that had Rahul Gandhi not disapproved the ordinance brought by the UPA government in 2013, he would not have been disqualified as an MP.
Speaking about his new book “Azaad: An Autobiography”, the veteran leader said he continues to remain “2000 percent more Congressi” than the ones who run politics on Twitter.
When asked if Rahul Gandhi was the reason behind him quitting the party, Azad told news agency PTI, “Yes. Not me alone, but at least a few dozen more – both young and old leaders. Once you are in the Congress, you are spineless,” he observed, adding that “you have to get operated”.
Further, Azad also claimed leaders should not be forced when top leadership is going to appear before any probe agency or courts, and leaders must accompany voluntarily and not because of a whip being issued. He cited the example of former prime ministers when leaders went along with them voluntarily when they appeared before any Commission of Inquiry or probe agency and no whip was issued, unlike today.
“I don’t mind if anyone goes to Surat along with Rahul Gandhi, but you cannot force the leaders to come. But today, a whip is issued, which should not be done forcing everyone to accompany… There are a lot of orthopaedics today,” he said while elaborating his “spineless” remark.
The former leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha also claimed that Sonia Gandhi or Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge can’t decide his re-entry to the Congress.
Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, Azad heaped praise on former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and said, “I wish Rahul Gandhi would have worked 1/50th of what Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi did, he would have succeeded.”
On the ordinance brought out by the UPA government in 2013, Azad said, “We brought the ordinance because we knew that one should be ready that other parties will be in power too and they would use it against us. It was a weak cabinet and it should have gone ahead by bringing a law and should have stuck by its decision of bringing the law even after Rahul Gandhi dismissed it as nonsense and tore it.”
“It was a wrong thing on the part of the Congress party and decided to keep mum at the time…Rahul Gandhi would have been saved today through that only. The one who tore it, it got applied on him now. He should have realised it then.”
When asked, if he would join the BJP, if his party was in a position to form the government, Azad said, “In politics no one is untouchable. In politics, no one is permanent friend, no one is permanent enemy. These days nobody is untouchable in politics.”