J&K Congress leaders who quit were inactive: Rajni Patil

As more and more senior leaders of Congress in Jammu and Kashmir continued to quit the party in solidarity with Ghulam Nabi Azad, AICC in-charge of J&K Rajni Patil said those who quit with Azad were 'inactive' for some years and 'well past their prime'. Their exit will not harm the party, she said while alleging even Azad had a very 'unimpressive' personal electoral track record in his home state.

"Most Congress leaders of J&K who have resigned have not been actively participating in Congress activities for the past two years. If you look at their bio-data, you will find most of them are above 65. We are not at all surprised by their resignation. The fact is their exit will not harm our party at all," Patil, who returned from J&K, said in New Delhi on Wednesday. She alleged a BJP hand in the exodus of J&K Congress leaders.

Questioning Azad's claim that he was "forced to leave own home", Patil said, "Azadji got everything in the party due to the leadership of the Gandhis. He could win just one assembly election from J&K, that too after he was made the CM, from a seat held by Congress. His relative resigned as an MLA so that Azadji could fight the by-election. It is the Congress high command that gave him the ticket and got him elected to the Lok Sabha, twice from Maharashtra, five times to the Rajya Sabha, made him leader of opposition... Azadji has now deserted the same Congress and its high command."