A day after quitting the Congress, the former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna on Sunday slammed the Congress high command for sidelining him citing the age factor. “With pain and anguish, I have quit the Congress and I stand by the decision. Those leading the party in Delhi have hurt my self-respect and dignity,” he said. Mr. Krishna dismissed speculations about joining the BJP or floating a regional party.
In an hour-long interaction with the media at his residence here, he confessed that people like him, who had worked for the party, feel unwanted. “All they want is managers and not grassroots leaders with experience,” he said.
“I felt that Congress doesn’t need me. They do not want time-tested leaders and workers,” the former External Affairs Minister said.
“I would have gracefully accepted the decision, irrespective of the reasons, if I was treated with minimum decency, dignity and self-respect,” he said and added that he was unable to understand his failings as External Affairs Minister and the great achievements of his successor.
“There is no word of retirement in my dictionary. Age is a state of mind and shouldn’t be the criterion for deciding what the situation needs. For me, age is only a number. It should not be a factor in deciding the future,” he said. Mr. Krishna recalled his unceremonious exit as External Affairs Minister in 2012 saying that the Congress needs to learn the art of letting leaders exit gracefully.
“My disillusionment with the party started after I was dropped from the Union Cabinet,” he said.
To a query on whether he was unhappy with the manner in which AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi was running the party, Mr. Krishna said: “When we look at a party, we look towards the party president and not the vice-president or secretaries.”
Mr. Krishna toured the State extensively to campaign ahead of the 2013 Assembly elections in the State, which the Congress won . “Nobody questioned my age then. Unfortunately, it is somebody else who decides, not me,” he said.
