Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation will trigger more exits, says former Cong leader Ashwani Kumar

Former Congress leader and law minister Ashwini Kumar reacted to Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Indian National Congress and said it will trigger more exits.

Ghulam Nabi Azad's resignation from the Congress may trigger a series of exits as the "deep-rooted malaise" within the party cannot be addressed by the present dispensation, former Congress leader and law minister Ashwini Kumar said Friday.

He and other former Congress leaders said new combinations will soon emerge and occupy the liberal space in the Indian polity.

Kumar called upon the Congress leadership to reflect within and find solutions rather than "calumnising" the dissenters.

"The resignation of Azad confirms yet again that under the present dispensation and in the current scheme of things, the deep-rooted malaise that afflicts the party cannot be addressed," Kumar told PTI soon after Azad announced ending his decades-long association with the party.

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"The new but expected development will trigger more exits, which will further weaken the Congress pushing it into political irrelevance."

The former Union minister said the resignation of Ghulam Nabi Azad signals the end of an era for what was once the "grand old Party" of India.