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DIMAPUR — Senior Congress member and former working president of Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), Bobby Panicker, who was recently expelled from Congress membership for a period of six years, has alleged a conspiracy theory behind his expulsion.
It may be mentioned that NPCC president S Supongmeren Jamir, in an order dated Jan. 27, stated that the decision to expel Panicker was taken based on the recommendation of the disciplinary action committee (DAC) and in exercise of the power conferred under “Disciplinary Rules of Rule 6 (b) of the Indian National Congress (INC) constitution and rules.”
Responding to the expulsion order, Panicker, in a press release, alleged that former NPCC secretary Rajesh Kumar Sethi, was responsible for his expulsion as he wanted to replace Panicker as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) member from Dimapur-1 assembly constituency.
“As per the Constitution of the Indian National Congress, once a member is elected he can be removed either by resignation or by death or by expulsion from the party. But out of way Rajesh Sethi wanted to be a member in my place.
“For that he misused Party fund and purchased two second hand cars and one motorcycle and gave to the president of the ACC (1) and office bearers and got his name recommended to the president, NPCC,” he alleged.
The expelled senior Congressman also claimed that when he contacted Sethi and told him that, “if you remove me and take my position, I will resign from Party and write to Union Home minister about your hawala deal and request him to conduct a CBI enquiry against you,” Sethi recorded the conversation and complained to the NPCC president.
“Basing on this, the Party suspended me. This is the only thing I did. I have never worked against the Party,” he asserted.
He went on to state that even though he was suspended on August 1, 2023, the NPCC kept his case pending to harass him.
Finally, he was served the expulsion order after he, by virtue of being the vice-chairman of North East Congress Co-ordination Committee (NECCC), attended the committee meeting held at Guwahati on Jan. 23.
“Some of the members did not like it. So they decided to expel me so that I will not be able to attend the NECCC meeting again,” he added.
He further informed that he’ll be taking up the case in the Gauhati High Court, Kohima bench, to seek justice.