Congress leader Tariq Hameed Karra stokes row with Sardar Patel remarks

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 18

Congress leader Tariq Hameed Karra was on the back foot on Monday with the BJP attacking him for suggesting at the recent Congress Working Committee meeting that Sardar Patel worked with Mohammad Ali Jinnah to keep J&K out of India.

“When Sardar Patel was being vilified by Karra, did Sonia and Rahul Gandhi object to it? The Congress has not only spread misconception but also committed a sin. The BJP wants to know if Karra was reprimanded? Will he be expelled from the CWC?” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra asked in what appeared to be snowballing into a major political row.

Karra today said his remarks had been misinterpreted. “I had said Pandit Nehru wanted J&K to be made a part of India and did not want it to be called a theocratic state like Pakistan. I had said that Sardar Patel had said even if J&K goes to Pakistan, negotiations can be held on Junagadh and Hyderabad,” Karra said.

A section of Congress leaders said Karra’s clarification on Sardar Patel was worse than his original comments.

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