Amid the ongoing 'Chintan Shivir' of Congress in Rajasthan, former chief of Grand Old Party's Punjab unit Sunil Jakhar on Saturday announced his decision to quit from the party.
As per reports, Jakhar was upset over Congress high command taking action against his alleged anti-party activities.
While blaming senior party leader Ambika Soni’s statement on the "repercussions of having a Hindu Chief Minister in Punjab" for the party's humiliating defeat in the recently concluded state polls, the former Gurdaspur MP also said that party leader "sitting in Delhi ruined the Punjab unit."
“Don’t drift from your ideology,” The 68-year-old advised Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
He also targeted party leaders Harish Chaudhary, former Punjab in-charge Harish Rawat and Tariq Anwar.
Jakhar also called Rahul Gandhi a "good person", and urged the 51-year-old to take the party reins in his hands and "distance yourself from chaploos log (sycophants)".
The disgruntled Congress leader, whose decision comes during the party's three-day Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, went live on his Facebook page to make the announcement.
"It is my parting gift to the party. Good luck and Goodbye Congress," Jakhar said while announcing that he was parting ways with the Congress.
"Good luck and goodbye Congress," he said.
Before his Facebook live session, he also removed all party references from his social media handles.
While removing the Congress from his Twitter bio, Jakhar also replaced the party flag as the background image of his Twitter account with the Tricolour.
On April 26, Congress Disciplinary Committee recommended the two-year suspension of Jakhar and his removal from all party posts.
The five-member Committee was chaired by senior party leader A K Antony and the meeting was attended by panel members Tariq Anwar, J P Aggarwal and G Parameswar, besides Antony. Ambika Soni was not present during the meeting.
Ahead of that meeting, Jakhar had said those who still have a conscience will be punished.
"Aaj, sar kalam honge unke jinme abhi zameer baaki hai. (Today, those with a conscience will be beheaded). (My apologies to Javed Akhtar Saheb)," said Jakhar in a tweet.
Jakhar had criticised former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and termed him a liability for the party after the Congress lost to the AAP in Punjab.
Jakhar had rejected the charges against him and had said his statement was twisted and taken out of context.
He had also expressed regret if anybody was hurt by his comments.
He had earlier created a flutter when he claimed that 42 MLAs wanted him to be the chief minister and only two backed Channi following the unceremonious exit of Amarinder Singh last year.
Jakhar was among the front-runners for the chief ministerial post after Amarinder Singh was unseated last year.
His chances were scuttled after party leader Ambika Soni said the party should go with a Sikh face.
(With PTI and Agencies' Inputs)