Mr Nath has to ensure the party’s victory in Punjab on one hand and to contain the growing dissension in the Haryana Congress, that came to fore in the Rajya Sabha polls on Saturday, in which its 14 votes were declared invalid and thus helped the BJP-backed heavyweight candidate.
Advertisement
With the appointment of senior Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad as the new general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, many heads are set to roll in Uttar Pradesh as party leadership has chose to take tough stand after Rajya Sabha and council polls.
Nath said the AAP leaders were making the charge “out of ignorance”.
Let us be clear, no court in India, or anywhere else for that matter, has found Nath guilty in the anti-Sikh riots.
Nath had been a party general secretary some 15 years back when he was in charge of key states like Gujarat and West Bengal. He also accused AAP of raking up a pointless controversy.
The Congress’s decision to give charge of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Punjab to veterans Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kamal Nath indicates the seriousness with which the party views the two big electoral fights of early 2017. “But the Congress has not changed in all these years”, Phoolka said. “I wish the party high command had consulted or at least discussed the appointment with some senior leaders in Punjab”, a senior leader told The Indian Express. “Appointing Kamal Nath is like rubbing salt into the wounds of the riot victims”, Singh said.
“The opposition parties will try and make this a political issue in Punjab”, a Congress MP from the state confessed.
Unfortunately for the Congress, Nath’s appointment coincides with the BJP-ruled Centre’s decision to open 75 cases related to the 1984 riots, a move that has likely been inspired by the Punjab polls.
Nath and Punjab Congress chief and former CM Capt Amarinder Singh were at the Doon School around the same time over six decades ago and share a good equation.
Singh also wondered if it was another “jumla” which the Modi government was coining ahead of Punjab polls and was the Centre serious in punishing those involved in the anti-Sikh riots.
Advertisement
In Anand’s defeat the party clearly sees sign of rebellion, as Hooda had been arguing before the polling that they would find it hard to go along a candidate supported by O P Chautala who is the traditional rival of the Congress. Those who have been involved in massacre and genocide.Their place is not in politics, but behind the bars.
