Hooda expresses concern over turmoil in Punjab Cong, multiple desertions: ‘Not in national interest’

Hooda, who is part of the G-23 group which wrote a letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi last year seeking organisational overhaul, said weakening of the Congress is also not in national interest.

“Why are such things happening? The party should do ‘manthan’. Efforts should be made to find a solution to these issues,” Hooda told reporters in Rohtak.

When asked to comment on former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s emphatic statement that he will quit the party, Hooda said it is his personal decision.

Commenting on multiple desertions recently, Hooda, who is also the leader of opposition in the Haryana Assembly, said not just in Punjab, in Goa too, a senior leader has left the party.

“I am very much concerned about the future of my party. Weakening of the Congress is also not in national interest,” Hooda told a news channel.

Former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro, who recently quit the Congress, had joined the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday and called for uniting various factions of the grand old party under the leadership of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to fight the BJP.

Hooda said many others, including some senior leaders, have left the party.

Amarinder Singh had resigned as the chief minister of Punjab on September 18 after accusing the Congress leadership of humiliating him.

Earlier in the day, while some senior leaders of the party came out in strong defence of the top leadership and attacked Kapil Sibal and other G-23 leaders, Hooda came in Sibal’s support.

Referring to the protest by Congress workers outside Sibal’s Delhi residence a day before, Hooda said this is not in line with the party’s culture.