Updated
Bengaluru, Jan 29: Former Chief Minister S M Krishna, who had snapped his five-decades-old ties with the Congress by resigning its primary membership on Saturday, said he was deeply pained to go out of the party that had given him everything as he wanted to preserve his self-respect and dignity.
He, however, made it clear that he was not retiring from active politics. "With pain and anguish, I have decided to quit the Congress," 84-year-old Krishna said.
"In the present set-up of Congress, scant respect is given to age, seniority and experience while people capable of managing situations and people were given prominence," he said in an hour-long interaction with the media at his residence in Bengaluru on Sunday and confessed that people like him, who had toiled for the party, feel redundant and unwanted. "All they want are managers and not grassroots leaders with experience," he said.
Krishna, who is credited with putting Bengaluru and brand Bengaluru on the world IT map and taking Karnataka forward during his tenure as chief minister despite successive years of drought, said he took the decision to quit the Congress without consulting anybody, except his wife Prema. "I am not in position to spell out my future course of action or plans. I need time to consult my followers and supporters and people from my home district of Mandya. I will let you know as and when I make up my mind," he said.
He, however, made it categorically clear that he had no plans to join BJP nor meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 6 as has been speculated in the social and some sections of print and visual media. When told of Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda’s remarks that BJP would welcome him if he decides to join the party, Krishna said: "This is news to me. Nobody has spoken to me nor do I have any such plans."
To a pointed question on the speculation that he has been sounded out for the Vice President’s post and whether he was an aspirant, he snapped: "Am I mad to nurse such ambitions?."
Asked if he planned to float a regional party in the State, he said: "I would have considered it, if I was 20 years younger."
To a question on his comment in the past that a politician never retires but only fades away, Krishna said: "Yes, I did say that. In fact, it was a quote from Gen MacArthur that a soldier never retires but only fades away. I still believe that. However, one must admit that is just a state of mind and attitude. Some people in their forties are acting as if they are aged and jaded while there are those in the eighties who are hyper-active."
When a reporter wondered if he was not ditching the party after its worst-ever defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and almost 13 months before the next assembly elections in the State, Krishna retorted: "I am quitting the party. There is a world of difference between ditching and quitting."
"I am not a born Congressman. I fought against the undivided and united Congress party and contested against it from the volatile Mandya district from the now defunct Praja Socialist Party (PSP) after my return to India from the US in 1962. When the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru came to campaign for the official candidate, a huge crowd of some 30,000 had assembled. But I was not scared and remained undeterred and in the end won hands down. I repeated the feat in the next election too," he said recalling the past.
He made it clear that he convinced his PSP colleagues to join Indira Gandhi and support her after the Congress split and the government nationalised banks, abolished privy purses and implemented radical land reforms, which were the main Socialist planks.
Krishna, who had served under different chief ministers and had become a chief minister himself besides being the State Party Chief, Maharashtra Governor, Union Minister under Indira Gandhi, her son Rajiv Gandhi and External Affairs Minister under Manmohan Singh, said he was treated with utmost respect by all and even by Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the initial phase. However, his disillusionment with the state of affairs in the party started after his unceremonious ouster as External Affairs Minister in 2012 and the subsequent denial of Rajya Sabha ticket without giving any sort of explanation or showing the courtesy of informing in advance.
"I would have gracefully accepted the decision, irrespective of the reasons, if I was treated with minimum decency, dignity and self-respect," he said confessing that he was still at a loss to understand what was his failings as External Affairs Minister and the great achievements of his successor. "If my age was a consideration in divesting me of ministership or denial of Rajya Sabha berth, I would like to know how I was considered fit and capable of campaigning for the party in 2014 assembly polls in the State. At that time, nobody discussed or talked about my age," he said.
Krishna steadfastly refused to comment on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who was allegedly behind the move to divest him of his post as External Affairs Minister because of his advanced age or later in denial of a second term as Rajya Sabha member, and said he had sent his resignation letter to the primary membership of the party to the Congress President Sonia Gandhi. "I wish her well and speedy recovery," he said making it clear that he does not want to discuss or speak about anybody else, including the Vice President or General Secretaries.
He expressed gratitude to several leaders in the State, including ministers, and senior Congress leaders, who had met him since Saturday and even calling him to reconsider his decision to quit the party, and said he had taken his decision after deep deliberation and thought. "I stand firm and there is no question of reconsidering it. To me, self-respect and dignity are more important," he added.