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Former minister, Rajiv aide quit Congress

Former Union health minister D K Thara Devi Siddartha, her husband Siddhartha Reddy, a close associate of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and All-India Mahila Morcha (Congress) general secretary Sandhya Bajaj have resigned from the primary membership of the Congress party.

While Thara Devi has cited the denial of the ticket to her in the Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency, Siddarth Reddy, who was Gandhi's aide in Amethi, has not cited any reason for his resignation. Sandhya Bajaj has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Thara Devi said she had decided to heed the voice of conscience and advice of party workers. In her two-page letter, she said the Congress had struck her name off the ticket list, which was cleared by the central election committee, and she was replaced by former Karnataka chief minister M Veerappa Moily.

The Congress manifesto talked of empowerment of women, but she was betrayed by the party president, she said. The Congress was neither 'Indian nor national' and there was no point in continuing in this 'notional Congress', she remarked.

Thara Devi said there was a wave of sympathy for her in Chikmagalur as she had lost the 1996 election by a narrow margin, that too because of connivance of the officials with the ruling Janata Dal, she alleged.

Sandhya Bajaj, an advocate in the Supreme Court, said she had resigned from the Congress after looking at the present political scenario and happenings within the party.

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