Priyanka Chaturvedi, who quit the Congress, joins the Shiv Sena, party spokesperson Sanjay Raut said. Chaturvedi had been unhappy with the Congress after the party reinstated partymen she had accused of “misbehaving” with her.
She sent her resignation to Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday. She was the Congress national spokesperson and convenor of party’s media cell. Chaturvedi had recently publicly criticized the party’s decision to reinstate partymen, she had accused of “misbehaving” with her during a press conference in Mathura last year.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress had suspended some party workers following her complaint. They were recently reinstated, reportedly on the recommendation of Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Congress in-charge of UP West.
On Wednesday, Chaturvedi targeted the party leadership saying the Congress gave preference to “lumpen goons” over those who gave their “sweat and blood” to the party.
“In the last few weeks certain things have convinced me that my services are not valued in the organization and that I have reached the end of the road,” she wrote to Gandhi “with a heavy heart.”
“A serious incident and misbehaviour against me by certain party members while I was on official duty for the party has been ignored under the guise of all hands needed for elections. This indignity to me has been the final factor to convince me to move on focus on other things outside INC,” her letter reads.
Chaturvedi took to Twitter to denounce the move saying, “Deeply saddened that lumpen goons get preference in @incindia over those who have given their sweat and blood. Having faced brickbats and abuse across board for the party yet those who threatened me within the party getting away with not even a rap on their knuckles is unfortunate (sic).”
Earlier, she changed her bio on micro-blogging site Twitter. She had dropped ‘AICC Spokesperson’ from her Twitter bio.
Omar Abdullah, leader of the Congress’s alliance partner the National Conference, said Chaturvedi was “an asset” to the Congress. “To have lost her to selfish personal interests would have been no loss but to lose her because she felt her party didn’t stand up for her is all the more unfortunate. All the best going ahead Priyanka,” Abdullah wrote on Twitter.
