Tough to survive in Congress, says Shakeel Ahmad

New Delhi: Shakeel Ahmad, former AICC general secretary and union minister from Bihar, who resigned from the party minutes after the closing of the second phase of polling on Tuesday, said “it is very difficult” for any senior and experienced Congress leader to survive in the party these days without being humiliated. He also alleged serous mismanagement by the Congress leaders during the Bihar election and wondered whether the leadership will ever do any introspection on it.

“I am a person who spent decades in the Congress. It was a conscious decision to submit my resignation from the party only after the polling day rather than doing it in the middle of the election. Yes, it is very difficult for any senior and experienced Congress leader to survive in the party these days without being humiliated or sidelined. I am sure many are feeling the same and tell you about it at least in private. I finally resigned from such an atmosphere,” Ahmad told ET.

On Congress’ Bihar election management, he said, “There was total mismanagement of the election and coalition, especially after a group of novices were chosen to do that task. Some senior Congress leaders even held a press conference in Patna to accuse AICC in-charge Krishna Allavaru, CLP leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan and some party secretaries of total mismanagement of the election and of selling party tickets. Yes, it was a fact. As a former Congressperson, I wonder whether the Congress leadership will do an introspection, and also on who was responsible for handing over key jobs to such people”.


Ahmed said there was no surprise in the election results. “When Chirag Paswan’s party disengaged from NDA in the 2020 elections and fielded its own candidates against the 100-odd seats against Nitish Kumar’s party, it not only resulted in the defeats of the JD(U) in more than half the seats it contested, but it also helped RJD and Congress to win 24 and 10 additionally seats respectively due to Paswan’s party’s vote-cutting of JD(U). Now Paswan’s party is back with NDA and they, including JDU, swept the poll. The results also showed the larger anti-Lalu Yadav/RJD social and political votes remain intact with NDA and that the Opposition failed to get any new sections to its fold and ended up losing many of its old support base”. ENDS