Anand Sharma quits as Congress foreign department chief

Senior leader and member of the Congress Working Committee Anand Sharma on Sunday resigned as chairman of the All-India Congress Committee foreign department.

Sharma, who was recently handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi alongside three other Congress leaders to be part of the multi-party global outreach on Operation Sindoor, sent his resignation to party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

In the letter, Sharma, a former union minister, said he wanted younger blood to come in. He also recalled the history of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and said it had over the last few decades been actively engaged in building and strengthening the Indian National Congress' relations with like-minded political parties which share the values of democracy, equality and human rights.

"DFA mandate also included both taking international initiatives for freedom and human dignity, and convening and participating in international conferences on issues of contemporary relevance. These have contributed in strengthening the Congress party's profile and presence globally," Sharma said.

He said the Congress had built strong relations with major political parties in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe and Latin America.

"DFA has established an institutional mechanism for exchange of leadership delegations with fraternal political parties and international organisations," he said. Sharma has been proactively associated with all major international initiatives of the Congress since mid-1980s as Indian Youth Congress president.