Team News Riveting
Raipur, May 25
Former HRD and law minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday joined the growing list of leaders quitting the Congress.
Sibal, who flagged lack of reforms in the Congress, had taken a staunch position against the leadership and had literally walked to the point of no return. With other G 23 members Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Anand Sharma among others reaching a compromise with the leadership, Sibal was largely isolated in the rebel space.
The latest exit brings back focus on five top guns in the party who left Congress in the last five months.
Amarinder Singh: The Punjab chief minister, Amarinder Singh was first to go after months of bickering with then Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu while the party high command watched the episode as mute spectator and backed the latter. By the time party leadership realised Sidhu was not a better bet, it was too late and Congress faced a humiliating defeat in Punjab.
R P N Singh: A close aide of Rahul Gandhi, Singh deserting Congress and joining the BJP ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls in January was a big surprise. Singh was the Congress’s Jharkhand in-charge but had reportedly been pushed to the margins in the party.
Ashwani Kumar: Former Union minister Ashwani Kumar quit the party in February. He said: “can best subserve larger national causes outside the party fold”. In his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, he said the move is “consistent with my dignity”.
Sunil Jakhar: Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar was another warhorse from Punjab to quit the party this month and join the BJP.
Hardik Patel: Hardik Patel three-year stint with the Congress party has finally come to an end with the Patidar leader resigning from the grand old party today. In his lengthy letter to the Congress President, Patel said: “The party has constantly been working against the interests of my country and our society.”
