Hours After Dropping Congress from Twitter Handle, Party's Ex-Punjab Chief Sunil Jakhar Quits

Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Saturday resigned from the party, hours after removing all references to the Congress from his social media handles. Jakhar had been upset with the Congress leadership ever since the party took action against him for alleged anti-party activities.

The party decided to remove Jakhar from all party posts for two years a fortnight ago on the recommendation of the disciplinary action committee. The Congress leader had since then been considering his political options.

Earlier on Saturday, he went live on Facebook with his ‘dil ki baat’, following which he dropped Congress from his social media handles.

Jakhar had accused the Congress high command of listening to a certain Punjab leader on the matter of the CM’s appointment after Captain Amarinder Singh’s departure. He said even after three generations of his family had served in Congress for 50 years, he was “stripped of all party posts” for “not toeing the party line.”

In March, Jakhar had called former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi a liability for the party after the Congress had lost to the Aam Aadmi Party in the Assembly elections. “Not the top brass, but his [Channi’s] own greed pulled him and the party down,” Jakhar had said in a tweet.

Some party leaders, including former minister Raj Kumar Verka, had demanded action against him after accusing Jakhar of using objectionable language against Channi and the scheduled caste community during a TV interview. But Jakhar had rejected the charge saying his statement was twisted and taken out of context.

Jakhar had claimed that the party did not choose him as the chief ministerial candidate because he is a Hindu, according to a report by The Indian Express.

Jakhar was among the frontrunners for the chief ministerial post after Amarinder Singh was unseated last year. The chances of Jakhar becoming the chief minister were scuttled after the statement of party leader Ambika Soni, who had said the party should go with a Sikh face.

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