LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee's former chairman Nirmal Khatri on Saturday hit out at Ghulam Nabi Azad, saying whenever he has been in-charge of the party in the state, the Congress has "suffered miserably".
Khatri on his Facebook page, while citing an interview given by senior Congress leader Azad, said, "In the interview, he (Ghulam Nabi Azad) has referred to some states, and claimed that it was on his strength that the Congress formed the government in those states."
"But, in the interview, he forgot to mention about Uttar Pradesh. Whenever you (Azad) have been the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has suffered miserably," he added.
Azad was among the 23 Congress leaders who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi, seeking an active and full-time leadership of the grand old party among other organisational changes.
Khatri said, "In 1996, Azad entered into a poll pact with the Bahujan Samaj Party during the UP polls. The results were nothing special. And, in the 2017 UP Assembly elections, he entered into an alliance with the Samajwadi Party, and the seat tally dipped to seven, the lowest so far. In other words, whenever he became the in-charge of UP, the Congress took the back gear."
Khatri, who is also a former Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Faizabad, said, "From 1977 to 1980, Azad was not seen in active role. But, when he felt that the Congress can bounce back to power, then in 1979 he courted arrest during a protest."
"On the other hand, lakhs of Congress workers had already undertaken 'jail bharo aandolan' in 1977 in the country. Azad ji as compared to your struggles, lakhs of Congress workers struggled with the Nehru-Gandhi family," he said.
The former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief said, "Azad in his interview had said that for the past 23 years, elections to the Congress Working Committee (CWC) were not held.
The question is that when in these 23 years, he himself was a nominated member to the working committee, why he did not raise the question then?" "I also feel that elections should be held at every level.
But, leaders like you understood the nominated way a better one, and derived pleasure from it," Khatri said.
"Azad had also said that whether the integrity of the country was under threat. I am of the view that there is no threat to the integrity of the country, but there is a certain threat to the integrity of the Congress," he added.