Khushbu’s exit points to domination of RaGa’s coterie on Congress

New Delhi/Bengaluru, Oct 13: The influence of Rahul Gandhi and his coterie on the Congress party has brought again into focus due to the exit of Tamil Nadu actor-turned-Congress politician Khushbu Sundar.

AICC Spokesperson actor-turned-politician Khushbu Sundar's exit from the Congress has again brought focus on coterie around party leader Rahul Gandhi. She is not the only one complaining about this as many other former party leaders have raised similar issues.

The south Indian actor said she was pushed and suppressed in the party atmosphere forcing her to join the team and BJP. Earlier, Congress stalwarts like Sanjay Jha, Himanta Biswa Sarma had also expressed similar views of domination of the coterie.

In a letter addressed to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Khushbu pointed fingers at the people sitting at higher offices sans any ground connectivity yet dictating terms at the party.

Like her, there are other leaders in the Congress who reposed their faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Former Congress leader and scion of Gwalior Jyotiraditya Scindia who shifted to BJP in March this year was also upset over the delay in decision-making by the party high command.

"Few elements seated at a higher level within the party, people who have no connectivity with the ground reality or public recognition are dictating terms and people like me who wanted to work for the party sincerely, are being pushed and suppressed," Khushbu Sundar wrote.

Khushbu had taken the decision to say goodbye to the Congress party after a long and thorough thought process over a period of time. The Congress had dropped her as the spokesperson and said that her exit will have little impact on the Tamil Nadu state assembly elections due in 2021.

Meanwhile, the exit of actor-turned-politician Khushbu Sundar will have its repercussions on the Karnataka political scenario, observers feel. The local party leaders are obsessed with this most pertinent question following her exit and entry into the BJP.

Reports from Bengaluru said that the state party leaders are worried over the exit of Khushbu Sundar from the Congress party. It may be mentioned that former Congress MLA Roshan Beig had quit the party launching a tirade against the AICC General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge K C Venugopal.

Meanwhile, the exit of 14 MLAs had caused the fall of the Cong-JDS government in Karnataka. These MLAs, like Khushbu, had pointed to three Ds – Doubt, Despair, and Discouragement within the party – for their exit.

A Congress leader commented that if these issues were not addressed by the party, the situation could even worsen in the future. The departure of Tom Vadakkan who joined the BJP last year is a case in point. Vadakkan was also not happy with the party managers.

However, KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre denied that Khushbu’s exit could have any impact on the party organization in Karnataka.