Congress accepts Margaret Alva's resignation

New Delhi, Nov.12 : The Congress party on Wednesday accepted the resignation of its gneral secretary and Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Margaret Alva.

The resignation was accepted on the basis of a report prepared by the party's Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) chairman and Defence Minister A.K.Antony.

Party sources said that Antony has taken charge of party affairs in Maharashtra. Motilal Vora and Mohsina Kidwai have been given charge of party affairs in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh respectively, while Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes has been given charge of affairs in the north eastern states of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.

Alva was in charge of party affairs in these five states and one Union Territory before her resignation. On Tuesday, the Congress party said that it was yet to decide on whether to accept or reject the resignation of Alva, who appeared before the party''s disciplinary committee on Monday, and offered to resign from the post of general secretary and her CWC membership in the aftermath of her allegations that a "sale" of party tickets had taken place ahead of the Karnataka assembly polls.

She met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday night soon after appearing before Disciplinary Action Committee chairman A K Antony.

Alva had questioned a certain section of the Congress leadership after her son Nivedith Alva was denied a party ticket in Karnataka recently. She alleged that "different yardsticks" were being adopted in deciding party nominations for upcoming elections in six states.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC), however, has rejected the charge and ruled out any probe in the matter. The party leadership has also disapproved of her action of going to the media over the issue.

Congress Party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi also denied Alva's claims about selling of tickets during the Karnataka elections.

Gandhi said he was happy with the distribution of the tickets in elections and added that he was "not unhappy" about ticket distribution.

Congress' chief spokesman M Veerappa Moily said Alva had committed serious breach of party discipline.

He said that Alva's allegations were motivated by the fact that her son was denied an assembly election ticket.

ANI