Rahul a ‘darpok’, insecure leader: Ex-Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad

Former Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad on Saturday (January 24, 2026) called Rahul Gandhi a ‘darpok’ (coward) and an insecure leader and claimed he is only promoting young leaders who sing his paeans in the party.

Mr. Ahmad, who has been a former union minister and a party general secretary, had quit the Congress after the Bihar Assembly elections in 2025. He has been a three-time MLA — 1985-90, 1990-95 and 2000-2004 — and twice an MP, 1998 and 2004, from Bihar.

He said Mr. Gandhi finds himself uncomfortable in the presence of senior leaders who have a public standing and is thus promoting only those who have no base.

Calling Mr. Gandhi “dictatorial” and “non-democratic”, Mr. Ahmad claimed he does not listen to senior colleagues in the Congress and is “convinced that the party cannot go below the number two position due to its national presence”.

Noting that Rahul Gandhi lost Amethi when he was the Congress president, Ahmad claimed that he could not even win the seat once nurtured by his forefathers and family due to his attitude.

While former Congress president Sonia Gandhi “converted Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress and that of Narasimha Rao and Sitaram Kesri as her own, Rahul Gandhi failed to convert even Sonia Gandhi’s Congress into his own,” Ahmad told PTI.

“Rahul Gandhi is a coward and an insecure person. He does not get that ‘boss feeling’ before anyone who is senior to him or has a big public support. He is uncomfortable with any such person and is thus dictatorial and not democratic,” Mr. Ahmad said.

The senior leader also said that he did not find anyone claiming that their names were removed from the voter list during the Special Intensive Revision in Bihar.

Seizing on Mr. Ahmad’s remarks, the BJP said that they have “exposed” Gandhi.

“Shakeel Ahmad has exposed Rahul Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi keeps showing that he is the most tolerant and democratic person, but the reality is something else. He is the most dictatorial person and has the same Emergency-mindset that Indira Gandhi had,” BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said.

On Mr. Ahmad’s claim that he did not find any voter claiming their name was removed from the electoral rolls during the SIR in Bihar, Poonawalla slammed Gandhi, alleging that the Congress leader made “baseless” allegations of ‘vote chori’ to put the blame of his party’s defeat in the elections on “others”.

Mr. Ahmad had announced his resignation from the party in November last year, citing differences with local leadership in Bihar.

The veteran leader, who is from Bihar, is a former Union minister of state for home, communications and IT and a former AICC general secretary. He was the president of the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee from 2000 to 2003.

He also served as a minister in the Bihar cabinet and held the health portfolio.

Ahmad is a doctor by profession and a third-generation politician.