Tanwar takes on senior leaders, says few want Congress-free India

Former Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, who resigned from the party on Saturday, hit out at a section of the party leadership, saying that few people in the party were working to realise the dream of those who want a "Congress-mukt" (Congress-free) India.

Tanwar told reporters here that people who were "well established in the system" exploit people to achieve their political objectives.

"They sit in AC rooms, go for foreign trips and earn money for five years. They return right before the polls and behave as if they are Gods and Goddesses but their deeds are demonic" he said.

"Many forces say that the country should be made Congress-free. The country is not getting Congress-free because of these forces but because of some people within the Congress who want to make Bharat and Haryana free of Congress," he said.

 

Earlier this week, Tanwar had taken the unusual step of sitting on dharna outside Congress President Sonia Gandhi's residence in Delhi with his supporters protesting over the way tickets had been distributed in Haryana.

He resigned from all election committees of Haryana on Friday and from party's primary membership on Saturday.

Tanwar said he was pained to leave Congress and was not joining any other party.

"I am leaving Congress party with utmost pain but I am not going somewhere else, though I was offered by BJP and other. These offers came from the big leaders," he said. "Party is in existential crisis not because of these outside forces but because of internal problems and contradictions within," he added.

He said leaders groomed by Rahul Gandhi were being selectively targeted by forces within the party.

"Those who have given their blood and sweat to the party are being ignored and attempts have been made to politically murder them," said Tanwar.

Asked who could be targeted next, he said, "Only they can tell. The one for whom 'supari' is given gets to know about it," he said.

He said there was existential crisis in the party and it is a well-planned conspiracy. "Due to these forces, Rahul Gandhi also left (the post of the president). These forces will further weaken the Congress in the coming days. Those whom Rahul Gandhi groomed are being targeted by forces within the party and are politically murdered," Tanwar told ANI.

Announcing his resignation earlier in the day, he said the party has drifted away from its basic principle and ideology. Voting for the 90-member Haryana Assembly elections will be held on October 21 and the counting of votes is scheduled on October 24.