Former Bihar Congress president Anil Sharma quits party

Former Bihar Congress president Anil Sharma on Sunday quit the party, claiming that it was stuck in a "disastrous" partnership with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).Sharma, while declaring his decision to quit Congress at a press conference in Patna, also voiced disgust over the recent induction, "with much fanfare", of controversial former MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav."Today, the party leadership is busy with a rally in Delhi where it is talking of the need to save democracy. Sadly, though, no democracy can be seen in the Congress where even our duly elected national president can take no step without consulting Rahul Gandhi or his close aide KC Venugopal," alleged Sharma.
About the timing of his step that comes just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, he said, "I have, since my state president days, been critical of the tie-up with RJD which has helped them thrive at our expense. In the eyes of the people, we have only ended up being held guilty of supporting the jungle raj of Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi." Sharma said the last straw came when Pappu Yadav was inducted into the party.Replying to a question, Sharma said the choice of candidates by the RJD showed "tickets have been put up for sale, without taking into account winnability", and that possibility of a "tacit understanding" with BJP, as is speculated by a section of the media in the case of Mayawati's BSP in adjoining Uttar Pradesh, "can certainly not be ruled out".

Watch: Former President of Bihar Congress, Anil Sharma, resigned from the party on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/1HLbhVLgBK

— IANS (@ians_india) March 31, 2024

Sharma became the fourth former Bihar Congress president to have quit the party in nearly a decade. The latest instance was that of Ashok Chaudhary, who quit the party and joined JD(U) in 2018, a few months after a factional feud caused him to give up the state president's post.Earlier, in 2015, Ram Jatan Sinha had quit the Congress and after a brief stint in JD(U), he has been in political wilderness. The year before saw Mehboob Ali Kaiser joining late Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP which helped him enjoy two consecutive terms in Lok Sabha from Khagaria.