Haryana: 2 days after quitting party, Ajay Yadav says he is 'Congressman by birth'

Yadav quit the party on Thursday alleging shabby treatment after Sonia Gandhi left the post of party president. He also resigned as chairman of the All India Congress Committee's Other Backward Classes (OBC) Department.

New Delhi: Senior Haryana leader Ajay Yadav has returned to the Congress within days of quitting, saying that his work “not being appreciated and some harsh words” from the High Command had made him resign initially, but his politician-son prevailed upon him to “forget the past”.

After the Haryana debacle, Yadav had on last Thursday quit from the party, charging that he was treated “shabbily” by the central leadership after Sonia Gandhi left party presidentship.

Late Saturday night, Yadav posted on social media platform X that he was returning to the party. The veteran politician said he is a Congressman by birth and would remain in the party till his last breath. He tagged Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in the post.

“I was upset that my hard work done for the OBC department was not being appreciated by high command and some harsh words made me take this drastic step but with a cool mind I have decided to strengthen the congress party, especially my mentor and leader Sonia Gandhi-ji. My son Chiranjeev prevailed upon me to forget the past,” he said.

He had earlier said that he was waiting for acceptance of his resignation by Kharge and afterwards would the media and give his version of "harassment and embarrassment meted out to me for the last two years by certain leaders".

Yadav, a known detractor of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, has been upset with the party for some time as he was not considered for the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat and his supporters were ignored for Assembly seats in Ahirwal region of Haryana where Yadavs and other OBCs have influence. He blamed Hooda for his sidelining in the party.

While quitting from the party and the post of OBC Department chairman, he had said that the decision to resign was “really hard” as his family had “70 years of association” with the Congress. His father late Rao Abhey Singh was a Congress MLA in 1952.

The 66-year-old leader’s son Chiranjeev Rao was defeated in the recent Assembly polls from Rewari, which Yadav represented five times. He was also a former Haryana Minister and was appointed OBC Congress head in 2022.

On October 8 when the Haryana results came, Yadav blamed the central leadership as he said the party failed to perform well in southern parts of the state due to non-representation of Ahirwals in the leadership. He had also said that the party did not give any representation to Ahirwals in CWC, CEC , AICC General Secretaries and even in Haryana Congress.

He had also said giving him the post of OBC Department was "just an eyewash" and it was a "toothless" post.

The Hooda camp is said to have managed to prevent Yadav from getting a ticket to fight from the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat earlier this year. Congress candidate Raj Babbar lost to BJP's Rao Inderjit Singh, who also belongs to the Ahirwal community.