By IANS,
New Delhi : Former union minister Yogendra Makwana Saturday announced he was quitting the Congress party for it had lost its moorings and that he was forming a new political party called the National Bahujan Congress (NBC)Party.
Makwana told reporters here that he was leaving the Congress because “the party president (Sonia Gandhi) is surrounded by a few sycophants who work for their selfish interest and neither for the society nor the party.”
“There is nobody left to take the real policies of the Congress to the people’s doorsteps,” he said. Makwana was a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government.
He was Thursday removed as the head of the party’s Scheduled Castes department on the charge of publicly criticising the Congress’ functioning and policies. Like senior Congress leader Margaret Alva, Makwana had alleged that party tickets for the upcoming assembly elections in Rajasthan were sold for huge money, and cited figures.
Makwana asserted: “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are surrounded by a coterie of flatterers and their only agenda is self-promotion. The deserving leaders and workers of the party have been sidelined, in favour of a culture of sycophancy and power seeking.”
The senior leader from Gujarat said his new party would work for the welfare of poor people across the country without discrimination. Makwana will be the party’s national president.
He said the people from minority communities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and backward classes were not given adequate representation in the constitutional bodies, government services and other forums.
Makwana’s new party will contest the forthcoming assembly elections in Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.