JKPCC issues notice to party MP for dragging Sonia's name

New Delhi, May 6 (UNI) The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) today issued a showcause notice to party leader Madan Lal Sharma for alleging that Assembly speaker Tara Chand and former state unit chief Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed were saved from being implicated in the sex scandal following the intervention of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

JKPCC president and Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz asked Mr Sharma to reply to the notice within a week.

''I have taken serious notice of the false, uncalled for and unwarranted remarks that you made at a public meeting in Khour (Akhnoor district in Jammu region) on May 4, alleging that you had approached Ms Gandhi and Mr Azad who then intervened in the matter and saved Mr Chand and Mr Sayeed from being implicated in the alleged case of sex abuse,'' Prof Soz said.

While making the allegations, the JKPCC chief told Mr Sharma that he did not consider it necessary to take notice of the fact that the Jammu and Kashmir government had acted fast when the matter came to its notice and immediately referred the case to the CBI for inquiry.

Prof Soz also told the Member of Parliament from the Congress that he did not take notice of the fact that the matter was pending before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

''That, you did not think it necessary to raise your grievance, if any, with the party leadership and went to the press with allegations, amounts to gross indiscipline and misconduct.

''Therefore, you are hereby asked to show cause within a week's time from the receipt of this notice, as to why disciplinary action shall not be taken against you, as per the constitution of the party,'' Prof Soz said in the notice.

Addressing the public meeting, Mr Sharma alleged that the Assembly Speaker and the former JKPCC president were involved in the sex scandal that rocked the state in 2006.

''Tara Chand and Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed were named in the sex scandal but they got away,'' he had reportedly said.

Mr Sharma further alleged that it was Ms Gandhi's intervention with the CBI at the request of Mr Azad that saved both Mr Chand and Peerzada Sayeed.

''The Congress would have collapsed last year if both of them were sent to jail,'' he said.

The CBI had arrested several people, including former ministers Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Raman Mattoo and top bureaucrat Mohammad Iqbal Khanday, for their alleged involvement in the sex scandal.

However, they were later released by a Chandigarh court.

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