Days after alleging that she has been facing verbal abuse, insults, and heckling in the state's party unit, Chhattisgarh Congress leader Radhika Khera announced her resignation from the grand old party on Sunday.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), she announced her decision to quit Congress after 22 years of service to the party. She said, "Today, with great pain, I am renouncing the primary membership of the party and resigning from my post. Yes, I am a girl, and I can fight, and that is what I am doing now. I will continue to fight for justice for myself and my countrymen."
Meanwhile, in her resignation letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Khera said she faced criticism from within the party because she had visited the Ram Temple in Ayodhya for the Ram Lalla's idol darshan.
"I have given more than 22 years of my life to this party and worked with full honesty from NSUI to the Congress's media department. Despite that, I had to face such intense opposition because I am supporting Ram in Ayodhya," she said.
Moreover, she added, "The opposition to my action (going to Ayodhya) reached such a level that the party refused to give me justice for what happened to me in the Chhattisgarh Congress office. I have always fought for others' justice, but when it came to my justice, I stood defeated."
Khera further mentioned that she has renounced primary membership in Congress and resigned from her post with "great pain." "Being a devotee of Lord Shri Ram and a woman, I am deeply hurt," she further said.
Meanwhile, Khera, the then National Media Coordinator, earlier alleged in a series of tweets that she has been facing verbal abuse, insults, and heckling by the state Congress unit. A purported video of Khera from the premises of Rajeev Bhavan in Raipur has also gone viral on social media, where she was seen sobbing and complaining about an unnamed individual, stating that nobody in the party is respected, especially female politicians.
While the exact name of the party leader whom Khera has accused of mistreatment was not made public, according to media reports, the individual in question was Sushil Anand Shukla, PCC Media President. Khera, in a veiled reference, targeted Sushil Anand Shukla, saying, "Kaka's fascination for 'Dushil' is more important than a girl's honor. I am a woman, and I am fighting." Significantly, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is popularly known as Kaka, and he has appointed Sushil Anand Shukla during his tenure and is believed to be close to him. Khera was seen targeting the same only in her post.
Earlier, in a tweet, she also remarked, "In this land of Mata Kaushalya Mandir, women are unsafe. People suffering from male chauvinism want to keep women under their feet. I’ll soon expose."
