Ghulam Nabi Azad meets Congress 'G-23' leaders on why he quit party 'without telling'

The leaders visited Azad at his home in Delhi and asked him "first hand" why he quit without consulting them.

They even asked him why he took the step even after Sonia Gandhi announced internal elections for a new Congress president, according to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Azad on Monday said he was forced to quit the Congress and launched a renewed attack on former party President Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders.

Talking to the media, the veteran Congress leader had alleged that he was sidelined from the party after a letter was written by the 'G 23' group last year and was taken out of the campaign committee even as he had been a 'star campaigner' for the party for decades.

"The family members forced me to leave the house... When people start feeling that you should not be there, a wise person's job is to leave the place," Azad had said.

He exited the party weeks before the Oct 17 election for a new Congress president.

Anand Sharma had expressed shock and said the development would "pain all Congressmen".

"It's a serious development and will pain all Congressmen. I'm personally shocked. This situation was entirely avoidable. We were hopeful that there would be serious introspection but unfortunately, that process was subverted," Sharma said, shortly after Azad's exit was announced.

Azad, 73, had led the "G-23" or 23 dissenters who wrote to Sonia Gandhi in 2020 urging a complete overhaul of the Congress and "clear, full-time and visible leadership".