Senior Congress party spokesman Gourav Vallabh on Thursday resigned from the primary membership and all his posts in the party.
Citing the reasons behind his decision to quit the party, Vallabh in a two-page letter to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that the party is “directionless”.
He also said that he is not happy with the party’s stance on the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and that several people of the party and the alliance have presented views which are “anti-Sanatan”, whereas the party has been silent on it, indicating it agrees with their views.
“I do not feel comfortable with the directionless way in which the Congress party is moving forward today. I can neither raise anti-Sanatana slogans nor abuse the wealth creators of the country. I am resigning from all posts and primary membership of the Congress party", Gourav Vallabh wrote on X in Hindi, sharing the letter.
Gourav Vallabh Resigns from Congress Ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha Polls
© Photo : Twitter/@GouravVallabh
Hours after resigning from Congress, Vallabh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at its party headquarters in New Delhi.
"I posted a letter in the morning on various social media platforms...In that letter, I wrote all the pains of my heart...This has been my view from the beginning that the temple of Lord Shri Ram (in Ayodhya) should be built. An invitation was received and Congress rejected the invitation, I cannot accept it...The leaders of the alliance raised questions on Sanatana. Why was Congress not responding to it?...I joined the BJP today and I hope to use my ability and knowledge to take India forward", he said while addressing the media after joining the Saffron Party.
Vallabh managed Mallikarjun Kharge’s Congress president campaign and was an effective voice on economic issues for the party.
He made his poll debut in 2019 from Jamshedpur East in Jharkhand, but ended up coming in third spot, behind the then-sitting state chief Raghubar Das and Saryu Roy.
Later, he contested the Rajasthan assembly election from Udaipur constituency in 2023, but againt lost to a BJP candidate by a margin of over 32,000 votes.