Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath resigned as AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab on Wednesday, three days after he was appointed to the post.
Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath resigned as AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab on Wednesday, three days after he was appointed to the post. The resignation, which came against the backdrop of a controversy regarding his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, was accepted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, said Randip Surjewala, the party’s chief spokesperson.
The Congress corrected its “mistake” after it realised the issue could mar the party’s prospects in 2017’s Punjab Assembly polls. Mr Nath is the third political victim of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, after Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.
Mr Nath requested Mrs Gandhi to “relieve” him of his charge to ensure that attention is not diverted from the real issues. “I have been hurt by developments in the past few days where unnecessary controversy has been created around the 1984 riots,” he said. Mr Nath’s appointment did not go down well in the Punjab Congress as the AAP made it an issue from day one.
