Lucknow: The Congress has issued a show cause notice to its rebel Uttar Pradesh legislator Aditi Singh who violated the party decision and attended the special Assembly session on Wednesday.
The Congress MLA from Raebareli (Sadar), who had earlier expressed her support to the BJP-led central government's move to abrogate provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, had once again gone against her party by attending the 48-hour special session called by the Yogi Adityanath government to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on Wednesday.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ajay Kumar Lallu issued the notice asking Singh to explain her conduct within two days and asked her to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against her.
Lallu said that the party had issued a whip asking all legislators to abstain from the Assembly session but Singh defied it.
Singh is the first rebel MLA to get a notice for attending the Assembly session when the entire opposition had boycotted it. The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have not yet sought an explanation from their MLAs who defied the party whip.
Reacting to the notice, Singh said she is ready to resign if the party wants. "But why has no show cause notice been served to Dinesh Singh and Rakesh Singh who have been working against the party openly for so long, but are still party members? Am I being targeted only because I am a woman?" she asked.
"I did nothing wrong in attending the session, I went to represent the people who chose me to solve their problems," she said. "Even in my speech, all I spoke was about development of my constituency, which is my primary responsibility."
Local Congress workers on Friday staged a protest in Raebareli against Singh for attending the special Assembly session and demanded her resignation. The workers alleged that Singh was working in close proximity with the BJP, which is why she had defied party lines to attend the session.
Singh had also stayed away from the elaborate peace march led by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Lucknow on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, which was attended by most of the top leaders of the state.
Singh on Thursday was also awarded Y-plus category security cover by the state government.
Speaking to News18 on the issue, Singh said, "Since there was a major attack on me a few months ago, I had demanded additional security from the government. It has heard my plea and done the needful. This should not be seen as any return gift from the government as I genuinely needed it."
Singh in May had suffered injuries on her way to Raebareli from Lucknow after her convoy was attacked by goons. She was headed to her Assembly segment for a floor test against the local District Panchayat Chief, Awadhesh Singh.
Singh in the session spoke about the issues of sanitation and drinking water faced by the people of her constituency.
"I have been always talking about the development of my constituency, be it drinking water or issues related to electricity," she had said. "As it was Gandhi Jayanti, I thought it was a good opportunity to bring the issues to the forefront. Just like I had spoken my mind on Article 370, I spoke today as I felt this was the right thing to do. People have voted me to power for development, I am ready to abide by whatever decision the party takes, but I did what I felt was right."
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