Cong leaders' lack of faith in Rahul Gandhi forcing them to defect: BJP

Addressing a press conference at BJP headquarters, party national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said Vallabh's concerns were an echo of what was originally said by Congress leader AK Antony

Congress leaders are getting "disillusioned" due to Rahul Gandhi's failure in convincing them with his political thoughts, the BJP said on Thursday, after Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh quit the party, saying he was not willing to either raise anti-Sanatan slogans or abuse "wealth creators" day in and day out.

In his resignation letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, which he shared on social media platform X, Vallabh said he did not feel comfortable with the directionless way the party was operating.

Addressing a press conference at BJP headquarters, party national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said Vallabh's concerns were an echo of what was originally said by a Congress leader AK Antony, who, heading a committee formed in the party's 2014 debacle, had warned against leaning too much in favour of one religion.

"AK Antony, a senior most leader of the Congress who headed the committee, had given the conclusion that the major cause of the disastrous defeat of the Congress was that the party seemed to be inclined too much towards one religion," he said.

"Precisely in a way, what he was trying to say was that Congress was perceived to be a party inclined to Muslims. AK Antony was himself from the minority community," Trivedi added.

This is "very much obvious" that one after another Congress leaders are getting disillusioned with the party because Rahul Gandhi could not make his own understand what he has been trying to make the country understand, the BJP spokesperson charged.

Trivedi said that the reason Vallabh cited while quitting the Congress also shows that Rahul Gandhi's political and economic thoughts are getting "punctured.