While quitting, a leader ‘ spoke to my mother weeping’: Rahul Gandhi

Mumbai: Congress's Rahul Gandhi concluded the Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra in Mumbai on Sunday with a mammoth rally where he narrated how a senior congress leader joined the BJP being afraid of central agencies.

Rahul Gandhi told the rally without naming former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan that a senior leader from the state crossed over to the BJP to evade investigation, according to NDTV.

Narrating the incident, he said: “I don't want to name names, but a senior leader from this state, left the Congress. Weeping, he told my mother, 'Sonia-ji, I'm ashamed to say, I do not have the power to fight this people, this force. I do not want to go to jail”’.

‘We are fighting with a power. Now the question is, what is that power. The soul of a king lies in the EVMs, ED (Enforcement Directorate), CBI, Income tax,’ NDTV quoted Gandhi as saying.

Several Congress leaders have crossed over to the BJP over several months ahead of the polls with the Congress raising again the ‘ Washing machine’ allegation against the Saffron party after Chavan quit the party.

After Chavan left the party, State Congress chief Nana Patole attributed the reason to a mentioning of the Adarsh scam in a White Paper presented in parliament.

The two of the three cases on the docket against Chavan are linked to the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society.

When Chavan was the revenue minister in 2000, a land in Colaba was allegedly allotted illegally to the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society.

However, when quitting the party, the senior leader attributed his decision to various differences within the Congress.