Cong expels two for spreading rumour about change in party's state leadership

Two Nainital district Congress leaders were expelled from the party for six years on Tuesday for spreading "rumours" on social media that the party's state president has been changed.

Two leaders of the Uttarakhand Congress' Nainital district unit -- Mala Verma and Kuldeep Sharma -- were expelled from the party for six years on the direction of the party affairs in-charge in Uttarakhand Anugrah Narayan Singh, PCC's disciplinary committee president Pramod Kumar Singh said.

At a time when the country is fighting coronavirus outbreak, spreading fake news about change in state party leadership on social media is a gross violation of the party discipline, Singh said.

The two leaders had recently said on the social media that PCC president Pritam Singh has been replaced by senior party leader and former Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

The news went viral on the social media, creating a flutter in the Pradesh Congress.

Former Chief Minister Rawat, however, himself had refuted the report, saying it was far from the truth.

Taking cognizance of the fake news,Uttarakhand's party affairs' in-charge Singh recommended stern action against the two leaders.

"We all stand behind our Pradesh president. At a time when the country is fighting a war against coronavirus, misusing the social media for spreading a lie like this is highly condemnable," he said.