Congress spokesperson resigns over former minister's participation in Bharat Jodo Yatra

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Three days ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra entering Jammu and Kashmir on January 20, Congress party on January 17 suffered a setback as its spokesperson Deepika Pushkar Nath resigned over the participation of former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister Choudhary Lal Singh in the Yatra.

Nath accused Lal Singh of siding with the alleged rapists in the Kathua rape and murder case in 2018. He was later forced by then chief minister Mehbooba Mufti to resign as forest minister when People’s Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party were in coalition in Jammu and Kashmir.

“In view of Choudhary Lal Singh's proposal of joining Bharat Jodo Yatra and Congress allowing the same, I am left with no other option but to resign from Congress. Lal Singh was responsible for sabotaging the Kathua rape case in 2018 by brazenly defending rapists,” she tweeted.

Lal Singh divided the entire region of Jammu & Kashmir to protect the rapists and @bharatjodo is ideologically opposite. On ideological grounds, I cannot share the party platform with such a person. @kcvenugopalmp @Jairam_Ramesh @rajanipatil_in @RahulGandhi

— Deepika Pushkar Nath (@DeepikaSRajawat) January 17, 2023

Singh, a two-time MP and three-time MLA had switched from Congress to BJP in 2014 and was also a minister in the PDP-BJP government which collapsed in June 2018 after the national party pulled out of the alliance.

Several months before the fall of the government, Singh resigned from BJP and floated Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP) following an uproar over his participation in a rally in support of the Kathua rape accused in January 2018.

(With inputs from PTI)