New Delhi: Dealing with flak for inviting Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Celebration (DSSP) chief Chaudhary Lal Singh to affix the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress is rethinking his participation, ThePrint has learnt.
Singh, a former Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) minister within the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition authorities in Jammu and Kashmir, was pressured to resign from the occasion for allegedly supporting the accused within the Kathua rape and homicide case of 2018.
The re-examination of the invitation comes after J&Ok Nationwide Convention chief Omar Abdullah questioned the Congress’ transfer, saying the yatra should not grow to be a chance for leaders to “whitewash” themselves.
“Congress has to see whether or not some persons are becoming a member of the yatra to whitewash themselves. We haven’t forgotten these leaders who tried to avoid wasting the rapists and throw allegations on the victims. It’s incorrect that these leaders will use this yatra to indicate themselves as secular,” said Omar Abdullah in Srinagar Wednesday.
In 2018, Singh had participated in a rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch in help of the alleged perpetrators of the rape and homicide of an eight-year-old Bakarwal woman in Kathua. Singh, who had denied his help for the rapists on the time, later stated he was merely demanding a CBI probe within the case.
Singh, who was as soon as a Congress MP, had give up the occasion to affix the BJP shortly after the 2014 Lok Sabha election. After he was ousted from the Folks’s Democratic Celebration (PDP) and BJP coalition authorities in 2018, and sidelined inside the occasion, he give up the BJP and floated the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Celebration (DSSP).
Final 12 months, DSSP’s Rajinder Singh Bubby — additionally Singh’s brother — fought and received the Kathua Municipal Council elections as an unbiased candidate, wresting management of the civic physique from the BJP. He bagged the bulk within the 21-member council within the elections necessitated after the incumbent chairman resigned.
Talking to ThePrint, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera neither confirmed nor denied Singh’s participation within the yatra. “We’ll see. We now have learn all statements and are wanting into the identical,” he stated.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) Jammu & Kashmir in-charge Rajani Patil informed ThePrint, “We’ll carry our personal yatra. Bharat Jodo Yatra is our Programme. We don’t know if he’s coming or not.”
Nevertheless, Congress sources concerned with coordination for the Bharat Jodo Yatra in J&Ok informed ThePrint that Singh’s attendance within the yatra is “into consideration”.
The problem first drew criticism from Deepika Pushkar Nath Congress spokesperson in J&Ok and in addition the lawyer showing for the Kathua rape sufferer on the time. Nath, thereafter, resigned from the occasion Tuesday.
Talking in Kathua final week, Singh had introduced that his occasion and its staff will welcome Rahul Gandhi’s yatra because it enters Kathua.
“All events have been approached. Our occasion, our individuals have been additionally approached. They informed us to take part of their yatra,” he stated. “We should always all attempt to unite Bharat. Whichever occasion provides the slogan of Bharat Jodo, it’s in favour of India and never in opposition to it. Our Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Celebration has a transparent imaginative and prescient (of) betterment of Dogras and the nation.”
Talking on the difficulty, former J&Ok Chief Minister and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar Wednesday stated, “Congress occasion has struggled to not simply free India however to make it a secular and democratic nation, which the BJP is attempting to destroy. So, Rahul Gandhi has come out and 1000’s are becoming a member of him. He’s attempting to reunite the material of the nation. So, who joins him doesn’t matter. What issues is the aim of the yatra.”
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Ex-Congress MP, sacked BJP minister
Singh began his political profession as a youth chief with the Congress and was first elected as an MLA from the Basohli constituency in J&Ok in 1996 and 2002. He was then inducted as Minister for Well being and medical training within the Congress-PDP authorities (2002-2004). Thereafter, he was elected to Lok Sabha twice in 2004 and 2009 on a Congress ticket.
He parted methods with the Congress in 2014 after being denied a ticket, and joined the BJP.
After his alleged present of help for the accused within the Kathua incident, he was pressured to resign as minister from the PDP-BJP authorities. He finally left the BJP in 2019 and began the DSSP.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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