BJP wants JKPCC chief to go for protesting probe

Trying to turn the tables on the Congress party on the controversy surrounding the gristly Kathua minor rape case near Jammu, the BJP on Sunday sought resignation of J &K Congress Chief Ahmad Mir  claiming that he was seen in a video describing police investigation into the case as motivated and also defending the public protests against it.

Addressing a press conference here Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said  while BJP removed two of its State Minister for joining public protests against the probe, Congress president Rahul  Gandhi who sought to point fingers at others did not utter a word on the comments made by his party’s J&K unit chief.

In the video, which was played during a Press conference at the BJP headquarters here, Mir is purportedly telling reporters that the locals believed the investigation was motivated and that the main culprits were still at large.

Questions would be raised and there must be some justification in the people's demand, Mir said, wondering if the probe was aimed at making some political points.

"When our Ministers expressed these sentiments, the Congress, the media made a lot of noise. We took action. They resigned. Now we want to ask Rahul Gandhi, who took out a candlelight march (protesting the growing incidents of crime against women in the country), why is he not taking action against his party's State president," Javadekar said.

Pointing fingers at others while protecting its own was the character of the Congress party, he alleged.

A major controversy was raised when two of BJP's  State Ministers joined a public march of 'Hindu Ekta Manch' facing accusations that  they were trying to protect the culprits.

The two Ministers—Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga—resigned on Friday, soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said these incidents, including a rape case in which a BJP MLA from Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh is the accused, had shamed the country and that justice would be ensured in all the cases.

Javadekar also demanded an apology from senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, noting that Bar Association of Jammu president B S Slahia, who had led the public protests against the police probe, was his poll agent in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

The BJP leader also suspected intentions of  Rahul's  candlelight march at India Gate on Friday night, saying he never protested against the "Nirbhaya" incident, atrocities against Dalits in Mirchpur in Haryana and many other incidents of rape that had happened during the Congress rule.

Reacting to Congress leader Dinesh Gundurao's comment that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should be beaten with slippers, Javadekar said the BJP condemned such remarks and claimed that the opposition party was making provocative statements and trying to incite violence as it was afraid of losing the May 12 Karnakata Assembly polls.