Jaiveer Shergill slams Congress "coterie culture", calls Bharat Jodo Yatra a publicity gimmick

New Delhi: Just hours after veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quit the party, lawyer-turned-politician Jaiveer Shergill on Friday said leaders across age groups were frustrated with its 'coterie culture.'
Recently Shergill had resigned as Congress spokesperson. "Now a senior leader is speaking about it becoming a club of PAs and security guards shows that leaders across age groups are frustrated and disappointed by this entire coterie culture that is thriving in the Congress," Shergill told ANI.
He also dismissed the upcoming Bharat Jodo Yatra by Congress and said, "Bharat Jodo is a PR gimmick. In reality, this cabal is working within Congress on 'Congress Todo Abhiyan', elbowing out all the well-meaning leaders. This letter speaks loudly of sentiments of thousands of well-meaning Congress workers who are troubled by this 'Darbari' culture"
Jaiveer Shergill, who resigned as Congress spokesperson on Wednesday, said the decision-making of the grand-old party is not in consonance with the ground reality and public interest but is influenced by sycophancy.
Speaking to ANI, Shergill said, "I have resigned from all posts in the Congress party. The primary reason for the resignation is that the decision-making in INC is no longer being done keeping the interests of the public in mind. It is purely being influenced by a coterie who indulges in sycophancy. The decision-making of the Congress party is not in sync with the ground reality anymore. I have been seeking time from Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for more than a year, but we are not welcomed in the office."
"In the past 8 years, I have not taken anything from Congress but only given to the party. Today when I am being pushed to bow down before people because they are close to the top leadership, this is not acceptable to me," he said.
Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill on Wednesday tendered his resignation as the national spokesperson of the party claiming that the vision of the decision-makers was no longer in sync with the aspirations of the youth.
Earlier in the day, Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi resigned from all positions of the Congress party including the primary membership of the party.
"The Indian National Congress has lost both the will and the ability under the tutelage of the coterie that runs the AICC to fight for what is right for India," wrote Azad in his resignation letter to Sonia Gandhi.
This latest high-profile exit from the Congress party comes after the polls for the Congress President were deferred. Azad's resignation follows a series of exits of senior leaders from the party, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jaiveer Shergil, Jitin Prasada, amongst others.
This development comes just weeks after Azad resigned from the post of Chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress campaign committee, just hours after he was given the appointment. (ANI)