Congress raises questions over Poonawalla's party membership

New Delhi, Nov 30 : A day after Maharashtra Congress Secretary Shehzad Poonawalla raised a political storm by dubbing as "rigged" Rahul Gandhi's impending election as party President, the Congress on Thursday raised questions about the post he was holding or his stature.

On the other hand, Poonawalla shared all documents and press releases that mentioned his appointment as Secretary of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.

Congress Spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: "I don't think I am required to dignify such comments with a response. It actually adds weight to the maker of such absolutely silly comments. I don't know what to say."

"We have checked up on the claimant, who claims to be a spokesperson of the Congress or its mediaperson," he added.

"As far as the Communication Department is concerned, he has never been on their list," Singhvi said.

He said that state leaders were claiming that Poonawalla is not a party secretary, but "even assuming that he has got some small post, is this the way to give a statement?" 

"Is this disgruntlement on election eve for a particular reason? Let everybody know that the Congress does not get pressurised or blackmailed by anyone," Singhvi said.

Poonawalla on Thursday reiterated that the Congress and its Vice President Rahul Gandhi must answer questions raised by him. 

"Instead of answering my claims on delegates being fixed or about one family one ticket rule, they are making baseless allegations about me, which I expected," Poonawalla told IANS.

"If I am not a Congress member, why does my name appear in a letter signed by Ashok Chavan in April 2016 to appoint me as MPCC Secretary and Janardhan Dwivedi sent out an official AICC press release dated April 12, 2016," he said.

"Even today, I have got an official mail from MPCC office informing me of party programmes," Poonawalla added.

He had on Wednesday questioned the process to elect the party President, and said Rahul Gandhi must first resign as Vice President to contest the top post, adding he would contest if the election was held in a "genuine" manner.