Ashwani Kumar with former PM Manmohan Singh at a book launch event in Delhi. (FILE)
Highlights
- Ashwani Kumar leaves Congress in the midst of assembly polls in five states
- He said that Congress has lost touch with ground reality and no longer reflects the national mood
- Ashwani was Law Minister in Manmohan Singh-led Congress government between 2009 & 2014
Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar on Tuesday resigned from the Congress, ending his 46-year-long association with the grand old party. Kumar sent his resignation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi this morning, saying he can best serve national causes outside the party fold.
"Having given my thoughtful consideration to the matter, I have concluded that in the present circumstances and consistent with my dignity, I can best subserve larger national causes outside the party fold," Kumar said in his resignation letter.
"I am accordingly quitting the party after a long association of 46 years and hope to proactively pursue public causes inspired by the idea of transformative leadership, based on the dignitarian promise of a liberal democracy envisioned by our freedom fighters," the former Rajya Sabha MP also said.
Ashwani Kumar was Law Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government between 2009 and 2014.
Speaking to PTI later, he said that Congress lacks inspirational leadership and that party is facing existential challenge. He added that Congress has lost touch with ground reality and no longer reflects the national mood.
"Congress failed to reinvent itself despite the decline, leadership should look inwards rather than find fault with those compelled to leave," Kumar said.
Kumar leaves in the midst of assembly polls in five states and ahead of the February 20 election in Punjab. His resignation comes close on the heels of a spate of resignations, the most recent being that of another former union minister RPN Singh. A number of party leaders have quit Congress in the recent past. These include Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Sushmita Dev and Louisinho Faleiro.
