Sign of the times: Is the Congress facing more internal rebellions as Anand Sharma quits key Himachal post?

The headaches for the Congress don’t seem to be going way. The party received a massive jolt on Sunday when senior leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma announced that he was stepping down from the chairmanship of the party’s steering committee in Himachal Pradesh.

It has been reported that he informed Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that he had “no choice” in the matter and also reiterated that he was a “lifelong Congressman”.

Sharma’s decision to step down from the party’s Himachal Pradesh’s steering committee comes just five days after a similar move by another senior Congress leader, Ghulam Nabi Azad. Azad on 16 August resigned from the post of the head of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress campaign committee hours after his appointment.

We take a look at what’s happening and how this affects the party.

Why did Anand Sharma quit?

On Sunday night, Anand Sharma in a letter to Sonia Gandhi, reportedly said that he wasn’t consulted on issues pertaining to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections and cited many instances he wasn’t invited for discussions.

Appointed to the position on 26 April, Sharma told Gandhi that his self-respect was “non-negotiable” and that he resigned with a “heavy heart”.

I have resigned with a heavy heart from the Chairmanship of the Steering Committee of the Congress for the Himachal Elections. Reiterating that I am a lifelong congressman and remain firm on my convictions. 1/2

— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) August 21, 2022

The move comes as it emerges that Sharma, who is one of the tallest leaders in Himachal Pradesh, was kept away from and not consulted with on matters of the party in the state.

Sharma had also previously written to AICC general secretary KC Venugopal, seeking clarity on the matter of having multiple committees and their functions overlapping. He had requested Venugopal and AICC in-charge Rajiv Shukla to clarify the mandate of the steering committee.

As per a PTI news report, the senior Congress leader told party president that meetings of the core group of the state unit and senior leaders on election strategy have been held both in Delhi and Shimla on numerous occasions, but the chairman of the steering committee was neither informed nor invited to any of these meets.

In a tweet announcing his decision, he wrote that “given the exclusions and insults” he was left with no choice but to step down.

In an interview to Hindustan Times, the senior leader said that he had been a part of the Congress for 51 years but he felt humiliated at how he was being treated. “Just because Ghulam Nabi Azad and I had taken up certain issues, which are fundamental for the renewal and revival of the Congress, I have been vilified. I am a grassroot leader and I’m going back to Himachal.”

He clarified that he would campaign for the candidates in the upcoming Assembly elections where the Congress is attempting to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Following in Ghulam Nabi Azad’s footsteps?

Anand’s resignation comes just days after his party colleague and fellow member of the G-23 group, Ghulam Nabi Azad, resigned as chairman of the campaign committee in Jammu and Kashmir. Azad also resigned from the party’s Jammu and Kashmir political affairs committee.

According to reports, Azad, who has for long been upset with the party, saw the appointment as a demotion.

Incidentally, Azad’s resignation from the key post came shortly after his close aide, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, was dropped from the post of chief of the party’s Jammu and Kashmir unit.

A bigger churn?

While Sharma has stated that his decision was owing to his exclusion from decision-making, there are many who believe it is part of a bigger churn in the party as the election for the new chief gets underway.

The party had last year said that it would elect its new president between 21 August and 20 September. However, the process seems to be stuck now since Rahul Gandhi is not willing to contest the election for the post of Congress president, although all the efforts to convince him are still going on.

As per sources, Rahul is adamant that the post be given to a non-Gandhi and has also prevented sister Priyanka from filing nominations.

With inputs from agencies

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