National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Friday described Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress as a body blow to the party, saying it was "sad" and "scary" to see the grand old party implode.
"Long rumoured to be in the offing but a body blow to the Congress none the less. Perhaps the senior most leader to quit the party in recent times, his resignation letter makes for very painful reading," he tweeted.
"It's sad, and quite scary, to see the grand old party of India implode," Omar added.
Veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from the party on Thursday, calling out Rahul Gandhi for his "immaturity" and for "demolishing the consultative mechanism" in the party.
In a five-page letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi said that he was leaving with a "heavy heart", reports PTI.
The senior Congress leader's exit, not entirely unexpected, comes as another serious blow to the embattled 'Grand Old Party' that has seen a series of leaders leave it.
"The Congress," Ghulam Nabi said, has lost both the will and the ability under tutelage of the coterie that runs the AICC to fight for what is right for India."
"Before starting a 'Bharat jodo yatra', the leadership should have undertaken a 'Congress jodo yatra', the veteran leader said in his letter.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former minister in the UPA government, had been a leading member of the G-23, or the group of 23 "dissenters", who had written to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 calling for a complete overhaul of the organization and a full-time and visible leadership.