Tuesday 26 April 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Congress leader stresses he is in the Congress, questions who is behind conspiracy to spread fake news
Former leader of opposition and senior Congress leader Pritam Singh has reiterated that he is not leaving the Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Chakrata MLA addressed the media along with the Pradesh Congress Committee president Karan Mahara in the Congress Bhawan here on Monday. The Congress leaders addressed the Press conference a day after some news portals broadcast ‘news’ about Singh resigning from the Congress.
He said that he does not understand where these portals got this news from. “It is also the responsibility of the media to ascertain the correctness of the news while also seeking the view of the person concerned but none of these portals asked me before publishing such misinformation. Hence, I decided last night that I will lodge an FIR against these portals and a defamation case against them. They may try to state now that it was done erroneously, but the decision will now be taken in the court. Now, these people will tell who is behind this conspiracy,” he said.
He further said that the media is also as responsible as political leaders to strengthen democracy. “Before me, my father won elections eight times on the Congress ticket and I have been elected six times. If anyone leaves a party in politics it will not be done silently,” he said.
Singh said that following the Assembly election results, the AICC general secretary KC Venugopal and Congress state in-charge Devendra Yadav had told him that the party had lost due to internal factionalism and that his name too had come up among those involved in factionalism. “I had asked them to tell me which action of mine stoked factionalism or whether I had made any statement against a party leader, or worked against any official candidate of the party,” said the Chakrata MLA.
The PCC president Karan Mahara said that Singh’s demand is logical as if there are issues in a family, the elders are asked to resolve it. “I had also conveyed Pritam Singh’s sentiments to the party high command. When the time is conducive, he will have a meeting with the national leadership and the media will also come to know about it,” said the PCC president.
It is pertinent to mention here that there has been considerable speculation about Singh being miffed at the party’s national leadership since appointments were made to the posts of PCC president, Congress Legislature Party chief and deputy chief earlier this month. However, he clarified on Monday that he was not disappointed with this, adding that he had only sought an explanation about his name being mentioned among those indulging in factionalism in the party.
