Congress sacks leader over comments on Kharge and Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: The Congress has expelled its Odisha leader Mohammed Moquim days after he wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi, calling for a major restructuring of the party and stating that party president Mallikarjun Kharge is "too old" and de facto leader Rahul Gandhi is "disconnected" from party colleagues and the youth.

Moquim had also proposed a complete revamp of the party to tide over the crisis emanating from the party's serial electoral defeats and suggested that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra be given a central role in leadership and party leaders such as Shashi Tharoor, Sachin Pilot, DK Shivkumar and A Revanth Reddy be promoted to leadership roles.

"This is for the information of all concerned that the AICC (All India Congress Committee) has approved the proposal for the expulsion of Shri Mohd Moquim from the primary membership of the party due to anti-party activities," Bhakta Charan Das, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president, said in an official statement.


Some in the party circles said the leadership expelling Moquim, without first suspending him by serving a show-cause notice, signalled a hurried attempt to stem the tide of growing restlessness within the party over its serial defeats

In his letter, Moquim had also questioned the leadership of Das in the state Congress, alleging that the party had plunged into a deeper crisis owing to the incumbent state leadership.