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Congress accepts Bhajan Lal's resignation

Special Correspondent

Haryana leader vows to fight against `discrimination'

Bhajan Lal

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday announced it accepted the resignation of Bhajan Lal as the chief of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee.

On Saturday it denied it had received any letter from Mr. Lal.

Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the party "with immediate effect" accepted the resignation.

When the report of Mr. Lal's resignation became public the party sought to downplay it.

The party general secretary, Janardhan Dwivedi, said no injustice was done to Mr. Lal, who was Chief Minister for 13 years, with his elder son, Chander Mohan, being the Deputy Chief Minister and the younger son, Kuldeep Bishnoi, representing the Bhiwani Lok Sabha constituency.

Through the media

Party sources said the central leadership preferred to communicate the decision through the media, a route adopted by the Lal camp, which released an unsigned letter of resignation to the press.

They said the party had always accommodated Mr. Lal even when he and his supporters boycotted the first meeting of the Congress Legislature Party where Bhupinder Singh Hooda was elected the leader.

Rajesh Ahuja adds from Chandigarh:

Flanked by his younger son Kuldeep Bishnoi, who is the Member of Parliament from Bhiwani, and two MLAs, Mange Ram Gupta and Dharampal Singh Malik, Mr. Bhajan Lal said at his residence in Panchkula on Monday: "We are in the Congress. The party is strong and is with us." The Haryana strongman told media persons that he felt relief on hearing the news that his resignation had been accepted. He said he had resigned as president to protest against discrimination in the party against senior leaders and workers who had served the Congress for decades. Stating that it would be his endeavour to strengthen the Congress, he parried questions about his future course of action. "We will decide later and let you know. A rally will be organised shortly and a `jabardast sangharsh' will be launched against discrimination," he asserted.

Asked whether his resignation would have an impact on Jat versus non-Jat syndrome in the State, he said he had resigned to highlight "humiliation" meted out to workers irrespective of whether they were Jats or non-Jats. He also asserted that there was no question of his joining the BJP or any other group.

Mr. Bhajan Lal refused to answer questions when asked whether party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi had played a "role" in the whole "episode" by "not allowing him to express his point of view" before the party president, Sonia Gandhi. "It is an internal matter of the party... You know everything... '' he said.

Mr.Bhajan Lal also refused to say whether the high command had made efforts to resolve the issue.

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Congress accepts Bhajan Lal's resignation

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