Days after pulling out of LS poll race, Congress spokesperson Rohan Gupta quits

The development comes days after Gupta, who was nominated as the Congress candidate for the tough Ahmedabad East seat on March 12, quit the race on March 18.

In a letter addressed to Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, posted on X, Gupta said, “When I am battling through the serious health issues of my father and passing through the worst possible phase of life, the same leader again continued his defamatory campaign against me for last three days with support of his close aides at Gujarat and at the national level”. Gupta also alleged in the letter that “many senior party leaders” were aware of this “campaign”.

“His behaviour has caused serious mental agony & stress and has compelled me to resign from the party with a broken heart to protect my self respect,” his letter said.

When contacted, Gupta said, “I took the hard decision at my father’s bedside and saw all that had happened to him happening to me and I could not take it anymore. I decided at 2 am to resign and put out this letter.”

Rohan Gupta’s father Rajkumar Gupta is a former Congressman who served as a member of the party’s disciplinary committee.

“He does not want me to pay the same price as the whole family has seen the mental trauma I have gone through in last two years which was caused by the senior leader connected with Communication Department. My father could visualise the same thing happening to me which I could not. He tolerated the same and ended up spoiling his health and underwent bypass surgery which he never wanted me to,” Gupta posted on X.

Gupta has withdrawn his candidature for the Lok Sabha elections on March 18 by posting a handwritten letter on X addressed to the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee chief Shaktisinh Gohil. Some leaders had expressed “shock” at the manner he had quit the election. His father, who had been against the decision, had resigned from the party days after his name was announced.