We had vigorous differences of opinion but in a very civilised manner. Unfortunate that @DrAshwani_Kumar felt compelled to take this call."

Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who resigned from the Congress on Tuesday in the midst of the election cycle, said the grand old party had lost touch with the ground reality and no longer reflected the national mood.

In a no-holds-barred interview to PTI after quitting the Congress, the 69-year-old former Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab said he had reached his limits of perseverance in the party, which, he said, lacked inspirational leadership and is facing an existential challenge.

He also accused the party of failing to reinvent itself despite its decline.

Expressing anguish over recent controversies over Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose' statue at India Gate and Padma Bhushan award to senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kumar said these events betrayed a narrowness of approach not expected of the Congress.

He said the Congress should look inwards instead of finding fault with those quitting it.