Congress leader quits over party's demand for air strike proof

March 10, 2019 09:33

In what could be seen as a jolt to Bihar Congress ahead of the parliamentary election, senior leader and spokesman Binod Sharma resigned, contending that the party should not have demanded evidence of Balakot air strike.

In a letter addressed to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Sharma said the party high command has hurt the sentiments of ground-level workers and the common people by raising questions over the "pre-emptive" strike on the terror camps in Balakot, days after the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy.

The senior leader also said that he wrote to Gandhi several times in the last one month, apprising him of the sensibilities of the party workers in the state, but his requests were not entertained.

Terming the repeated demands for proof of air strike as "shameful and childish", he said, "I am resigning from the Congress with a heavy heart after serving it for 30 years. The party high command has hurt sentiments by breaking the Army's morale while boosting the spirits of terrorists."

Sharma alleged that some Congress leaders have "strayed from the path shown by party's stalwarts Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi".

"Today, we (Congress members) are seen as Pakistani agents. I feel ashamed of being called a Congressman. Since the nation is above party, I am resigning from Congress," he stated in his letter.

The senior leader also said that many party workers, who are disappointed with the high command's stance over the airstrike, may follow in his footsteps.

Without taking names, Sharma said he would join a party that puts the nation ahead of "petty politics".

A former general secretary of Bihar Congress, Sharma had unsuccessfully fought the Paliganj assembly by-poll on a Congress ticket in 1996.

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