Four youth Congress leaders resign from primary membership in Jammu

Four senior youth Congress leaders, including state vice president Pankaj Basotra, Sunday resigned from the primary membership of the party here, claiming the state leadership is showing scant regard to the aspirations of Jammu region and giving more attention to Kashmir.

However, the Congress played down the resignations and said the members were recently served show cause notices after being found indulging in "anti-party activities".

Basotra, along with state general secretary Sahil Sharma, former national coordinator youth Congress Chetan Wanchoo and district youth congress president Vishu Sharma, announced resignation from the party at a press conference here.

They said due to a feeling of suffocation in the party, they were forced to resign from their posts and primary membership.

"Congress is busy strengthening its youth cadre in Kashmir but doing injustice with Jammu region by ignoring the views of grassroot workers," Basotra alleged.

The Congress leaders blamed the party for showing "scant regard towards the aspirations" of Jammuites and giving more attention to the Valley.

Accusing state Congress president G A Mir of acting like a "dictator", they claimed that he never listens to grassroot workers and is "responsible for ruining the party".

"We tried our best to reach out to the leadership at the national level but nobody paid any heed, forcing us to take such a step," Basotra said.