Kathua rape-Two Mins resign from govt

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

Two Jammu and Kashmir BJP ministers, who had attended a rally in support of the Kathua rape accused, on Friday resigned from the Mehbooba Mufti government.

Forest Minister Lal Singh Chaudhary and Industries Minister Chander Prakash Ganga had also backed the demand by the Hindu Ekta Manch (HEM) for a CBI probe into the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl, whose body was found in the forest area of Rasana village in Kathua on January 17, seven days after she went missing from her home.

Lal Singh is MLA from Basholi and Ganga from Vijaypur in Samba district. Both handed their resignations to BJP state president Sat Sharma. “The BJP core group will meet on Saturday for a decision on their resignations,” Sharma told The Tribune. “Everything will be clear after the meeting.”

Sources said the ministers had resigned following pressure from ally PDP and the Opposition National Conference. Earlier in the day, the PDP asked the BJP to sack the ministers in order to “salvage the coalition”. The party has called a meeting of its legislators and senior leaders on Saturday to chalk out its future course. Stepping up pressure, NC leader Omar Abdullah warned of civil disobedience if the two ministers were not sacked.

“Our party is being blamed for supporting the rapists, which is totally wrong… If our visit to Rassana is the cause for tarnishing the image of our party, we would prefer to resign. We submit our resignation to our party state president because we believe the nation comes first, party second and self last,” the ministers posted on the social media. Lal Singh and Ganga had, while addressing a rally organised by the Hindu Ekta Manch at the Ram Lila complex in Kathua, had accused the state police and the Crime Branch of acting “under the pressure of the ‘other’ community” and criticised the police authorities for “arresting one or the other person at will”.

The BJP ministers had claimed that the “illegal detention of a local youth” had shaken the faith of the people in the police and the administration.

nb-the tribune