U-turn: Capt Ajay Singh Yadav withdraws resignation

Days after having rattled the Congress with his resignation, Ahir leader and former Haryana Congress minister Captain Ajay Singh Yadav took a u-turn today and withdrew his resignation.

“I am a Congress man by birth and will remain a Congress man till my last breath. I was upset that my hard work done for the OBC department was not being appreciated by the high command. Some harsh words made me take this drastic step but with a cool mind, I have decided to strengthen the Congress especially my mentor and leader Sonia Gandhi ji. My son Chiranjeev prevailed upon me to forget the past,” said Yadav in a late night tweet posted on X.

Though he remained tight-lipped, a senior Congress leader and close associate of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi revealed that it was an altercation with Rahul which triggered the resignation. Camp Rahul claimed he was reprimanded for indulging in anti-party activities and blaming Bhupinder Hooda and Deepak Babaria for the Haryana loss. His close associates, however, claimed that he had strongly raised the lack of importance to the OBC cell in the party.

A recent tweet by Ajay Yadav seems endorsed the theory. “Somebody humiliating his father’s colleague — being a son of a big leader — is not his fundamental right. I cannot compromise with my self-respect...Who tries to show that whatever he says is Bible is living in dreamland...It’s unfortunate for that oldest party,” read a tweet by Yadav. He had tagged Rahul Gandhi in it.

However, the differences seem to have been resolved now as a subsequent tweet by him read: “I have served the Congress party for past 38 years and never looked back and gave my best to the party. I worked with my leader late Rajiv Gandhi ji and Sonia Gandhi and cannot forget their affection towards me as our family has a long association of more than 70 years since 1952 my late father Rao Abhey Singh with the Nehru-Gandhi family. I am specially indebted to my leader and mentor Sonia Gandhi ji and can never think of hurting her feelings.”

Yadav joined the Congress in 1988 and is known for his knack for speaking his mind especially on issues like the reported prominence of Hooda and neglect of other leaders in Haryana Congress.