NEW DELHI, Aug 6 - Hours after quitting Rajya Sabha, Bhubaneswar Kalita has quit the Congress party as well.
In a letter to party leaders, he said that Leader of Opposition (LoP) issued an extraordinary whip in Rajya Sabha when a large section of the nation came out supporting the government steps to integrate the nation and create development opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir.
�We had sought a direction from the party on Article 370 yesterday, but no clear direction came. The Opposition leader issued an extraordinary whip, whereas, as chief whip I had not issued any whip. As I could not violate the whip, I resigned from the Rajya Sabha,� he claimed.
Clarifying, he said that the LoP has no authority to issue a whip. It is always issued by the chief whip, explained Kalita, adding that �since the LoP issued a whip on his own it was unacceptable to me.�
�Today I feel that this is not the Congress that I had joined decades back and the present scenario is worrisome. My conscience does not allow me to be a part of such negative developments and still continue in the Congress party.
�I and many within the party are disillusioned with the leaderless state of the party, which will ultimately ruin the party. This is a clear path of self-destruction that the party has taken and hence, I cannot continue to be in the party any more,� Kalita wrote in the letter.
Talking to newsmen here on Tuesday, Kalita said he has already issued a statement explaining why he quit Rajya Sabha and the Congress party. �I had resigned from the party late last evening because the whole day I was waiting for a call from my party, at least seeking an explanation why I had resigned from Rajya Sabha,� he said.
�Nobody contacted me and instead my party colleagues in Assam launched a campaign describing me as an opportunist. Later I quit from the party in the evening. Somebody from the party could have contacted me and asked me to withdraw my resignation from Rajya Sabha. I was never an opportunist. My political life is clean,� he said.
Asked whether he is going to join the BJP, Kalita said since he has so far not received any response from the party he would wait for some time and indulge in some self-introspection before taking a final decision regarding his future.
