PATNA: In a setback to the Congress in Bihar ahead of Lok Sabha polls, former state president Anil Sharma on Sunday quit the party, claiming that it was stuck in a “disastrous” partnership with the RJD.Making the announcement at a press conference here, Sharma 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.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.However, Sharma insisted he was cut from a different cloth, stating, “I joined Congress in 1985. In nearly four decades, I held organisational posts twice, as state general secretary and then as state president. Never did I lobby for a ticket or a legislative council berth for myself. Nor have I explored possibilities in any other party before quitting the Congress.”
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