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'Ailing' Congress taking medicines from compounder, not doctor: Ghulam Nabi Azad

'Will not join BJP as it will not help my politics in Jammu & Kashmir; this is Cong propaganda against me'

Former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad interacts with the media, at his residence in New Delhi. PTI Photo

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New Delhi | Published 29.08.22, 02:05 PM

Launching a fresh attack on the Congress, its former leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said the party needs medicines for treating it which are being provided by compounders instead of doctors.

Azad also accused the leadership of not having time for setting the organisation right.

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Speaking to reporters at his residence, Azad who quit the party on Friday last, alleged that the leaders being projected in the party in states are making party members leave instead of uniting them, reports PTI.

He also said that he will not join the BJP as it will not help his politics in Jammu and Kashmir and that he would soon set up a new party there as assembly elections could be announced anytime.

"I give my best wishes to the Congress, but the party needs medicines more than wishes. And, these medicines are being provided to the Congress by compounders instead of doctors," he told reporters.

"The party leadership has no time for setting things right in the party. The leaders promoted in states are making people quit the organisation rather than uniting them with the party," Azad also said while attacking the party leadership.

He said the party's foundation has turned very weak and the organisation can fall anytime and that is why he along with some leaders decided to quit it.

Azad also questioned the DNA of those who questioned him and accused those leaders in the Congress of conspiring and "planting news" against party leaders and thus weakening the organisation.

In an interview to NTDV, Ghulam Nabi, who had criticised Rahul Gandhi for his "childish behaviour and immaturity", said that he was is a "nice man" but had no aptitude for politics. He also slammed Rahul for his "policy of attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi left, right and centre."

Azad, 73, also ruled out joining the BJP, but confirmed reports that he would launch his own party in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said Congress Working Committee (CWC) - the party's powerful decision-making body - had become "meaningless" and the consultative process that thrived under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had been demolished.

"Earlier there were only CWC members. In the last 10 years, there have been 25 CWC members and 50 special invitees. Sonia Gandhi _ let us be fair to her _ between 1998 and 2004, was totally consulting senior leaders. She was depending on them, accepting recommendations...But after Rahul Gandhi came, from 2004, Mrs Gandhi started depending more on Rahul Gandhi. He had no aptitude of doing that. She wanted everybody to coordinate with Rahul Gandhi," Azad said.

In his five-page resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi, Azad blamed Rahul Gandhi for the Congress's defeat in the 2014 national election - a turning point for the party that has been struggling to win elections since.

He told NDTV that he had, after consultations, recommended an organisational plan ahead of the 2014 election. But after he took over, Rahul Gandhi "didn't pay any heed" to multiple reminders about the plan.

"So no programme was implemented. Then after 2014 also I reminded him a number of times, now for next elections. Till today it is now 9 years those recommendations are laying in the store of AICC (All India Congress Committee). So, they are not making any effort, they are not putting any effort to improve the conditions of the Congress."

Ghulam Nabi Azad Congress Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Jammu And Kashmir
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