Mysuru: Former Congress leader SM Krishna, who was external affairs minister in the Manmohan Singh government, on Saturday said that he quit the party due to "constant interference" from Rahul Gandhi.
Talking about the events that led to his resignation, Krishna said: “I was the external affairs minister for three-and-a-half years. Manmohan Singh had no say over that portfolio. Rahul Gandhi was then a nobody, not even a general secretary. He issued diktat that those who turned 80 can't be ministers. When I heard that, I submitted my resignation and came to Bangalore.”
The 86-year-old was the external affairs minister from May 2009 till October 2012. He resigned from Congress in January 2017 and joined the BJP in March that year.
"Rahul was an MP 10 years ago and didn't hold any party post but would interfere in all matters. Even though Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister, many subjects were taken up without bringing it to his notice. He (Rahul Gandhi) was not answerable to anyone - neither Parliament nor governance. He took decisions on which ordinance was necessary and struck down others,” said the BJP leader.
Krishna said the then PM did not have control over his cabinet and government as everything was being controlled by Rahul who acted like an “extra-constitutional body”. “There were matters that were never brought to notice of even the ministers. Cabinet was in discussion over passing an ordinance. But Rahul Gandhi, who was somewhere, tore a copy of the ordinance. It's what they call extra-constitutional authority.”
In September 2013, Rahul had during a press conference rejected as "complete nonsense" an ordinance to save the convicted legislators from disqualification, much to the embarrassment of then PM Manmohan Singh, as the government had been vigorously defending the ordinance.
Rahul Gandhi took over the Congress as party president from his mother Sonia Gandhi officially in December 2017.
Comments
0 comment