'Farewell Congress': Former Haryana MLA Anil Dhantori quits party

Haryana: In another jolt to Congress, former MLA from Shahbad assembly segment of Kurukshetra district in Haryana, Anil Dhantori left the party on Tuesday. Dhantori was the Congress MLA from the reserved Shahbad assembly seat from 2009 to 2014 during the party's government in Haryana. He contested the election again in 2019 but lost.

Sharing his resignation letter on his Twitter handle, Dhantori wrote, "Farewell Congress." "With due respect, I hereby tender my resignation from the primary membership and from the post of National Media Panelist (Spokesperson) of the Indian National Congress with immediate effect. I am thankful to you for providing me with an opportunity to serve the nation and the party," read Dhantori's resignation letter.

Notably, earlier this year, 6 Punjab Congress leaders also resigned from the primary membership of the party and joined BJP following the suit of former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar. Former Punjab cabinet ministers Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Raj Kumar Verka, Sunder Sham Arora and ex-MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon joined BJP after quitting Congress.

Reacting to the mass defection, former Punjab CM, Capt Amarinder Singh, who also left Congress last year, noted that 'this was just the tip of the iceberg' and congratulated the former ministers for 'taking a step in the right direction by joining BJP.'

Many prominent leaders left the Congress party this year including former Jammu and Kashmir chief Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jaiveer Shergill, who was considered one of the prominent young faces party and Kapil Sibbal, a G-23 camp leader.

RPN Singh, who was considered to be very close to the Gandhi family, quit the Congress when the party was preparing for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. Former Union law minister Ashwani Kumar also resigned in February 2022 after being associated with the outfit for over four decades.