Shambhu Srivastav quits Cong

Shambhu Srivastav, who quit Samata Party a year ago to join the Congress, has resigned from the Congress. Srivastav announced his decision after a meeting with his mentor Janata Dal (United) president George Fernandes this evening.

He told The Indian Express that he had returned to Fernandes and it was up to him to ‘‘utilise me the way he deems fit.’’ When asked what provoked him to leave the Congress, Srivastav said: ‘‘After having seen them (Congress leaders) closely, I have come to the conclusion that they have no commitment to anything.’’

The Congress president, he said, ‘‘is surrounded by a bunch of money-makers and pleasure-seekers, for whom secularism is just a slogan and a passport to power”.

He didn’t see any chance of Congress coming to power and said if it does so, ‘‘it would be the biggest national calamity.’’ Srivastav appealed to all parties which had left NDA, to return to the coalition.