NEW DELHI : In a big jolt to the Congress ahead of assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, party’s senior leader Anand Sharma on Sunday resigned from the chairmanship of the party’s steering committee for the state. In a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said that his self-respect is ”non-negotiable” and he has resigned from the post, sources told. He later tweeted that he resigned with a “heavy heart” and that he would remain a “lifelong congressman”.
Sharma on Sunday said he was resigning as chief of the “steering committee” of the party’s Himachal Pradesh unit, days after a similar move in Jammu and Kashmir, led by veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad. In a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi ahead of assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Mr Sharma said that he felt left out of the party’s decisions ahead of the polls and that his self-respect is “non-negotiable”, sources said.

“Reiterating that I am a lifelong congressman and remain firm on my convictions… given the continuing exclusion and insults, as a self-respecting person – I was left with no choice,” he wrote on Twitter. “Committed to Congress ideology that runs in my blood, let there be no doubts about this! However, given the continuing exclusion and insults, as a self-respecting person- I was left with no choice,” he further tweeted.

Sharma’s resignation comes soon after another leader of the G23 grouping a faction of senior party leaders who have been pressing for collective leadership in the party Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned as chairman of the campaign committee in Jammu and Kashmir a few days ago
Sharma has told the Congress chief that he has been ignored in the consultation process. However, he told Gandhi that he will continue to campaign for the party candidates in the state. The former union minister was appointed as chairman of the Steering Committee in Himachal Pradesh on April 26.Both Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma are prominent leaders of the G23 faction which has been critical of the decisions of the party leadership.
The grouping, comprising prominent veterans including Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Manish Tewari, has been insisting on genuine elections right from the block up to the CWC level. Mr Azad, another member of the group of Congress dissidents dubbed the “G-23”, had resigned as chairman of the campaign committee as well as the political affairs panel in Jammu and Kashmir a few days ago. Both Mr Azad and Mr Sharma are prominent leaders of the G-23 grouping, which has been critical of the decisions of the party leadership and has called for a radical overhaul to revive the party’s flagging fortunes.
The Congress hopes to take unseat the BJP in the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls slated later this year, which Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made a three-way contest for the first time in many years.
(With Bureau Report).

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