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Congress expels five leaders for six years over ‘anti-party’ activities
Relieves another five from various posts after report from party’s observer for Chandigarh constituency
A day after polling for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat, the Congress expelled five local leaders and removed another five from their posts for six years for anti-party activities.
The expelled leaders are former president of Chandigarh Mahila Congress Deepa Asdhir Dubey; vice-president Hafiz Anwarulhaq; general secretary Ravi Thakur; joint secretary Sahib Dubey and local unit delegate Abhishek Shanky.
Those who have been relieved from their posts include vice-president and former mayor Harphool Chand Kalyan; general secretary Hakam Sarhadi; general secretary Venod Sharma; spokesperson Satish Kainth and secretary, Manoj Garg.
Chandigarh Congress president Harmohinder Singh Lucky said the action was taken by the party high command after receiving a report from Jagdish, a former MLA from Rajasthan and observer for the Chandigarh parliamentary constituency.
The decision was made after deliberations with Chandigarh Congress candidate Manish Tewari and senior leaders of the party, and after approval from Rajiv Shukla, AICC general secretary and Chandigarh in-charge.
“All these leaders were involved in anti-party activities during the polls, in which Tewari was contesting,” he said.
Had voiced opposition to Tewari’s nomination
Notably, the expelled leaders had protested and resigned after the party high command had nominated Tewari for the Chandigarh seat on April 13. Loyalists of four-time Chandigarh MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, they had been rooting for his candidature.
Following their protest, the Congress high command had removed Chandigarh Mahila Congress president Deepa Dubey from her post and appointed Nandita Hooda, vice-president of the local unit, as acting president.
Even Harphool Chand Kalyan had issued a press release, stating that the Congress should snap ties with alliance partner AAP, failing which some party leaders would choose NOTA in the elections.
‘Seen supporting BJP’
A senior party leader said most of these leaders, instead of supporting Tewari, were supporting the BJP, and even Dubey’s husband was seen campaigning for BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon.
Visibly peeved at being denied the ticket after successive losses in 2014 and 2019, Bansal stayed away from Tewari’s campaign, attending only one event on May 26, where Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was present.
While Bansal had been campaigning for party candidates in Mohali and Panchkula, he was missing from all party activities in Chandigarh, where Tewari has been holding foot marches, public meetings, rallies and door-to-door visits.
