LUCKNOW: Alleging that

had been turned into a private limited company besides deviating from the ideology of Nehru and Gandhi, old guard Nadeem Ashraf Jaisi changed sides to join the

.

Snapping his 31 year old ties with the Congress, Jaisi said: “I feel disillusioned... The party had been hijacked by people of the leftist bent... Those running the show have deviated from the Nehru-Gandhi ideology of balance and equality.”

In a private message to scores of Congress workers and leaders, Jaisi accused party functionary Sandeep Singh of misbehaving with senior leaders besides imposing his own ideology on the party.

“I joined the Congress as a block level functionary in 1989. Took responsibilities on the insistence of

. But now I feel that the ideology of Nehru and Gandhi is not only being ignored, it is also being humiliated,” Jaisi told TOI.

In the message doing rounds, Jaisi also expressed resentment against appointment of a

worker as

member and in-charge for

and

.

“I feel suffocated under the present leadership... but my commitment for the social causes remains intact. Therefore, I joined AAP which is committed to issues affecting life of common man such as health and education,” he stated.

He said that he cannot accept deviance from party’s basic characteristic of balance and equality. Asserting that he joined the party because of Priyanka Gandhi, he also said that he was not the only one who has lost faith in the present state of affairs and leadership and more heads will follow suit.

Senior congress spokesperson Virendra Madan however said that Jaisi’s exit will not have any impact on the party. “He had deserted the Congress in 2007 to join the BSP. When he came back in 2017, he admitted that leaving Congress was his biggest mistake. He is making the same mistake and would repent in future,” he said.

Party sources hint otherwise. “After Rahul’s loss in 2019 Lok Sabha, an assessment of party’s performance at the booth level was made. The report showed that Congress won on 21 out of 23 booths assigned to Jaisi. One cannot deny that he has a good hold in both Amethi and Rae Bareli.”