The political crisis for the Congress party in Haryana spilled over on Saturday as former state unit chief Ashok Tanwar resigned from the primary membership of the party.
In a four-page scathing resignation letter sent to party president Sonia Gandhi, Tanwar said his fight was “against the systems which was destroying" the party and the contradictions within.
Tanwar's resignation follows a long list exits of the party’s young guards, an indication of a revolt within the Congress even as the grand old party grapples with leadership issues. Exits include that of Pradyot Debbarman resigning as the chief of Congress' Tripura unit, former Jharkhand chief Ajoy Kumar joining Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and senior Maharashtra leader Sanjay Nirupam ruling himself out of party's campaign in the state.
“Hard working Congressmen who rise from the grassroots and belong to non-political and humble family backgrounds are not valued. Money, blackmail and pressure tactics seem to work at the end. Now the Congress is the anti-thesis of democracy plagued by feudal attitudes and medieval conspiracies," Tanwar said in a tell all resignation letter released by him on Saturday.
He said over the last few years he had felt the “internal democracy in the party is being killed by selfish interest of a few lobbies." His resignation comes just two days after he resigned from all the key posts in the party accusing unfair distribution of tickets in the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana which goes to poll on 21 October.
Tanwar, who was replaced as Haryana Congress chief by Kumari Selja last month, is at loggerheads with former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Tanwar's resignation from the party could provide political ammunition to an electorally resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
His resignation also comes just a day after the party officially said he should stop making statements against the party ahead of the assembly elections in the state and act responsibly.
Similar to the allegations of Kumar, Tanwar too in his resignation letter spoke about 'instances of abuse and physical violence' which he faced during his tenure as the state unit chief. “After long deliberations with party workers and for reasons well known to all Congressman and public, I hereby resign from the primary membership of the @INCIndia," Tanwar wrote on Twitter on Saturday while sharing his resignation letter.
