CHANDIGARH: Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has been appointed to play general secretary in charge of poll-bound Punjab, merely a day after Congress leader Kamal Nath was relieved of the post.
Veteran Congress leader, Nath resigned from the post and wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi requesting her to relieve him from the position after controversy erupted over his appointment. "Have been hurt by developments in the past few days where unnecessary controversy has been created around 1984 riots," said Nath. The man in question faces allegations of leading a mob near Gurdwara Rakabganj in Delhi during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, and is a controversial figure in Punjab.
Coming out in his support, Captain Amarinder Singh said, "Nath had no role to play in riots. I was the only leader from Punjab to visit Delhi post the riots. I heard names of five leaders to be responsible for the riots. Nobody named Nath then. The issue was raised only after the Sikh for Justice leader, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun sought a ban on his entry to the US in 2010." Meanwhile, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal called Nath's appointment as "the ultimate insult to Sikhs".
"It is an unbelievable brazen act of insensitivity towards Sikhs and crass and vulgar disregard of national opinion on the guilty of the massacre of thousands of innocent Sikh children, men and women by Congress goons in November 1984. I just cannot believe a political party can be so brutally insensitive to the sentiments of Sikhs," Badal said.
