Former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar quits Congress

Ashwani Kumar, who served as a Law Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government, has resigned from the Party on February 15. He submitted his resignation to the Party President Sonia Gandhi and said that he is happy to serve the party from the outside.

Kumar, whose tenure as a law minister was between 2009 and 2014, has said in his resignation letter, “Having given my thoughtful consideration to the matter, I have concluded that in the present circumstances and consistent with my dignity, I can best subserve larger national cause outside the party fold."

He added that he "hoped to proactively pursue public causes inspired by the idea of transformative leadership, based on the dignitarian promise of a liberal democracy envisioned by our freedom fighters."

Kumar gave an interview to the Indian Express newspaper in which he said that the Congress Party is on the continuous decline and this shows that the party is not in sync with what people want. He added that the national mood is not in favour of the alternative that the Congress party presents to the people in terms of its future leadership.

He said, "The continuous decline of the Congress in terms of vote percentage, in terms of popular support clearly shows that the party is out of sync with the way the nation thinks.”

“It was a painful decision which had to be made. I had to choose between competing loyalties, to the nation, to myself and to leaders and friends. A lot of thought has gone into the decision, which brought me to the conclusion that I cannot make a useful contribution to the public and political discourse in the country at this critical time within the framework of the Congress party,” he added in the interview.