Some truth likely in what Ashwani said in resignation letter: Manish Tiwari

Congress MP Manish Tewari on Wednesday said there may be some truth in what former Union law minister Ashwani Kumar wrote in his resignation letter to party president Sonia Gandhi and the same concerns have been raised by G23 leaders in 2020.

Kumar on Tuesday resigned from the Congress after a 46-year association, saying he can best serve national causes outside the party fold.

Tewari was a part of the G-23, a group of dissenting Congress leaders who have demanded organisational overhaul.

The Anandpur Sahib MP said the resignation of Kumar "was a matter of great concern for most of us".

"He is a good person, a very good lawyer who has excellent arguments. Something may be true in what he has said in his resignation letter. These concerns were brought to the notice of the party high command by the G23 group in 2020. But his eye is on a Rajya Sabha seat," Tewari said.

He lashed out at former Congress state unit chief Sunil Jakhar and said those raking up the Hindu-Sikh issue in Punjab are playing in the hands of Pakistan's ISI.

At a press conference here, Tewari said the people of the state have never resorted to sectarian politics and they believe in "Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat".

"But what has he (Jakhar) done for the Hindus so far?" Tewari asked and claimed that he was the only elected Hindu MP from Ludhiana since 1952 and even in 2019 he had been elected from Sri Anandpur Sahib, the birthplace of Khalsa.

Expressing his pride in being a Punjabi, Tewari said he had never come across anyone who would resort to sectarian politics "like those who are raking up the Hindu-Sikh issue for their own vested interest".

He, however, exuded confidence that the Congress will return to power in Punjab with a thumping majority. Tewari said he has been campaigning for his party candidates in various assembly segments of the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency.

Early this month, Jakhar had claimed that 42 MLAs wanted him to be the chief minister of the state after the unceremonious exit of Amarinder Singh last year. Jakhar was among the frontrunners for the chief ministerial post. But the Congress preferred Charanjit Singh Channi, who became the first chief minister of Punjab from the Scheduled Caste community.

Following this, the AAP accused the Congress of doing politics of caste and religion while the BJP had questioned the "selective secularism" of the grand old party by "refusing" to make Jakhar the chief minister "because of his religion".

To another question, Tewari said, there should be no politics on turban.

"Our turban is too sacred for us to be dragged into politics as it is our honour and dignity", he said.