Cong leader speaks to ‘hostile’ channel, suspended for 6 yrs

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 2

In a shocking move today, the Congress suspended a worker of 40 years for speaking to an unfriendly television channel, which the party has boycotted for six months.

Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar issued the notice of suspension to Khazan Singh, state unit general secretary, citing his engagement with the Times Now reporters as "as an act of indiscipline".

"We have suspended Haryana Congress general secretary Khazan Singh for six years for talking to the TV channel which the party has on principle been boycotting for months. No one in the party can on their own decide to speak to any TV channel. The person in question did not seek any permission and acted on his own against party line," Ashok Tanwar said.

Singh, meanwhile, was stunned by the move and said he was innocent as he did not even know the said channel was under boycott from the Congress. “I will reply to the notice when I get it,” he added.

Singh’s suspension has the stamp of Congress general secretary in charge of Haryana Kamal Nath, who acted on a report by the party's media department sent about Singh's participation in a Times Now programme on the Dhingra Commission report on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra's land dealings.

It, however, remains to be seen if the Congress will also suspend former Haryana minister Ajay Singh Yadav for participating in a Times Now debate on Rahul versus RSS battle on Thursday night. Sources said they had taken cognisance of Yadav breaking party discipline by visiting Times Now Studio. The department is likely to send a report on Yadav to Kamal Nath and Ashok Tanwar.