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Journalism of Courage
The infighting in the Congress over allotment of the Hamirpur ticket to former cricketer Madan Lal took an ugly turn on Saturday after supporters of Narinder Thakur clashed with leaders over his being denied a ticket. On Friday,the Congresss district unit had called off a crucial meeting due to growing tension in the party ranks.
According to sources,supporters of Narinder Thakur,who were backed by PCC president Kaul Singh Thakur for the Lok Sabha ticket ever since his admission in the Congress,had planned a major protest to disrupt the meeting. His supporters had even brought along eggs and tomatoes to throw at leaders, a sitting MLA admitted. Kaul Singh Thakur and CLP leader Vidya Stokes were scheduled to attend the meeting,in which the candidature of Madan Lal was to be formally announced. However,when made aware that trouble was brewing in Hamirpur,the leaders reportedly decided to stay in Shimla.
The tension refused to die and when DCC decided to hold a protest meeting here for non-allotment of a government premises Bachat Bhavan Narinders supporters gathered at the venue and raised slogans against senior leaders,including former parliamentary secretary Anita Verma and DCC president Sunil Kumar Bittu.
DCC president Sunil Kumar Bittu has passed a resolution proposing the expulsion of Narinder from primary membership of the Congress for anti-party activities.
