Congress won’t rest until CBI probe is ordered into Ankita murder case: Selja

Congress leader Kumari Selja on Thursday struck a defiant note, declaring that her party will not rest until the Uttarakhand government orders a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Ankita Bhandari murder case to unmask what she described as the “VIP” behind the crime.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the state Congress’s political affairs committee, Selja said the revelations in the case have shaken the conscience of the nation. She asserted that it is the moral duty of a political party to stand with the victim and fight relentlessly for justice — a responsibility, she said, that the Congress is prepared to shoulder.

“Until a CBI inquiry is announced under the supervision of a sitting Supreme Court judge, the Congress will not remain silent,” Selja said, signalling a sustained agitation on the issue.

Turning her fire on the Centre, Selja accused the Union government of hollowing out the spirit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) through recent changes to the job guarantee framework. She said MGNREGA was conceived as a demand-driven legal right to employment, obligating the government to provide work when sought.

“In the new law, it has been reduced to a supply-based scheme,” she alleged, “where work will depend on budgetary allocations and parameters decided by the central government.” Such changes, she warned, would shift a heavy financial burden onto the states and deter them from offering employment.

Selja said the Congress would launch protests against the changes, beginning with press conferences across Uttarakhand on 10 January. A statewide demonstration is planned for 11 January, followed by public meetings at the panchayat level from 12 January to 28 February.

With justice for Ankita Bhandari and the defence of rural employment rights as twin rallying cries, Selja made it clear that the Congress is preparing for a prolonged political battle on both fronts.

With PTI inputs