Preneet Kaur takes on Tariq Anwar over show-cause notice - Hindustan Times
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Preneet Kaur takes on Tariq Anwar over show-cause notice

Feb 07, 2023 12:01 AM IST

A defiant Patiala Congress MP and former minister of state for external affairs Preneet Kaur on Monday hit back at the party’s disciplinary action committee member secretary Tariq Anwar for issuing her a show-cause notice for anti-party activities and dared the party “to take whatever action it wants to”.

Patiala

The Congress disciplinary committee on February 3 suspended Preneet . (HT file photo)
The Congress disciplinary committee on February 3 suspended Preneet . (HT file photo)

A defiant Patiala Congress MP and former minister of state for external affairs Preneet Kaur on Monday hit back at the party’s disciplinary action committee member secretary Tariq Anwar for issuing her a show-cause notice for anti-party activities and dared the party “to take whatever action it wants to”.

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The Congress disciplinary committee on February 3 suspended Preneet and asked her to explain within three days why she should not be expelled for indulging in anti-party activities to “help the BJP”.

In a letter addressed to Anwar, Preneet, 78, said, “I’m surprised to see that a person who left the Congress in 1999 on the issue of Mrs (Sonia) Gandhi being a foreign national, and stayed out for 20 years till 2019, and had to face disciplinary action himself, is now questioning me on a so-called disciplinary matter.”

Targeting Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who had complained against her to the national leadership, she said, “The Congressmen in Punjab who have made allegations against me are those who have many issues pending against them. If you call my husband (Capt Amarinder Singh) who was then chief minister, he will give you details about their doings. He protected them because they were from his own party. However, I suppose you will not do this.”

Warring too hit back at Preneet terming her arrogant and thankless. “Preneet Kaur ji, your reply to show-cause notice oozes out ingratitude and arrogance towards the party that made you and your family politically relevant, even ignoring their treacherous and deceitful traits,” he tweeted.

Capt Amarinder Singh, who was ousted from the Congress in September 2021, had floated the Punjab Lok Congress before the 2022 assembly elections and joined the BJP along with their daughter Jai Inder Kaur in August last year. Preneet had been staying away from Congress activities since her husband was removed from the post of chief minister. She was conspicuous by her absence during the Punjab leg of party leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra last month, which is being seen as the trigger for Warring’s complaint.

The Lok Sabha MP reiterated that she will keep working for her constituency. “I have always stood by my constituents, constituency and my state, Punjab, and have taken up their issues regardless of which government is in power. I hope you are aware that every minister of a Congress government in any state has to meet his department Union government minister, in this case the BJP government, to get their state’s issues resolved. This was done in the past Congress government in Punjab and today I am sure that it is being done by the Congress governments in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan as well. I too shall always continue to meet the state and Union government to resolve such issues, whether you like it or not,” she said.

Preneet concluded her reply, saying, “As for the action against me, you are free to take whatever action you wish.”

She served as Union minister of state for external affairs from 2009-14.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Vishal Rambani is an assistant editor covering Punjab. A journalist with over a decade of experience, he writes on politics, crime, power sector, environment and socio-economic issues. He has several investigative stories to his credit.

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