Ashwani Kumar Shreds Congress Over Punjab: "Leadership Worst In 40 Years"

Ashwini Kumar said that the kind of leadership being projected in Punjab is probably the worst in the last 40 years.

Former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar, who quit the Congress today, gave a scathing assessment of the party leadership's handling of Punjab, where it is wracked by infighting.

"The kind of leadership being projected in Punjab is probably the worst in the last 40 years," Ashwini Kumar told NDTV, without naming either Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi or Punjab Congress chief Navjot Sidhu.

Mr Channi took over as Chief Minister after Amarinder Singh, who had been locked in a dragging feud with Navjot Sidhu, was forced to resign in September.

"It is impossible for me to accept that caste can become the basis of the choice of Chief Minister in the Congress," Dr Kumar said, referring to Mr Channi, who is a Dalit leader.