CR Kesavan, the great-grandson of C Rajagopalachari, India’s first Governor General, resigned from the Congress on Thursday, citing the lack of any trace of the principles that had motivated him to devote more than 20 years to the organisation.
Kesavan posted his resignation letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Twitter, stating that he can no longer support “what the party symbolises, stands for, nor seeks to propagate”.
The letter read:
“I have not seen any vestiges of the values that made me work for the Party with dedication for over two decades. I can no longer in good conscience say that I concur with what the Party presently symbolizes, stands for or seeks to propagate. This is why I had recently declined an organizational responsibility at the National Level and also refrained from participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.”
Kesavan said that it was time for him to change directions but noted that he has not yet spoken to anyone and is unsure of “what will unfold next”.
“I must now forge a new course, thus with immediate effect, I withdraw from the Congress Party’s primary membership. I have also handed in my resignation as a Trustee of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee Charitable Trust to the proper authorities,” he informed.
“There will be speculation of me going to another Party but to set the record straight, I have not spoken to anybody and honestly do not know what will unfold next,” he stated. Kesavan also expressed gratitude to Sonia Gandhi and claimed to have made lasting connections inside the group.
He said, “I will endeavour in good faith to resolutely serve our country through a political platform. It will be one where I can continue to steadfastly uphold the integrity and ideals of public life, instilled and defended by the founding fathers and mothers of our great nation and my great-grandfather C Rajagopalachari. Jai Hind!”
As he spoke to news agency ANI, he remarked, “Any Opposition political party should have a well-defined narrative and message for the people. They should ideally take up people-centric issues. But unfortunately, over a period of time, I felt that the attitude and approach have hardly even been concrete, cogent, coherent or even consistent. Many-a-time, it has been very reactionary, cynical and unfortunate.”
“I have been a member of the Congress party for (the) last 22 years, but unfortunately over a period of time, I feel in INC, the attitude and approach were neither constructive nor concrete. The values which I worked for, had changed,” he added.
Kesavan indicated that he would not speak further about Congress by stating, “I don’t think I should comment about Congress once I’ve left the party. I am not comfortable with the way the politics were done in the Congress party and the right thing is to leave the party and that’s what I did today.”
His departure from the Congress comes less than a month after that of AK Antony’s son, Anil, who left after objecting to the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Opposition’s support of the same.
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