Within hours after the Jammu and Kashmir government declared a public holiday on September 23, the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh, the former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader Dr. Karan Singh wasted no time in expressing his gratitude toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "historical decision".
Dr. Karan Singh, the former Sadr-e-Risayat of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, is the son of the last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh.
"I'm delighted. It happened after a lot of effort. I congratulate the young generation of Jammu that carried forward the efforts. They did it together, nobody opposed", a news agency reported while quoting Dr. Karan Singh while responding to the decision of the J&K government to declare Maharaja's birthday as a public day.
Seizing the opportunity to thank Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, he said, "When my sons Ajatshatru and Vikramaditya were members of the Legislative Council, they had made the House pass a resolution about the holiday. Nobody carried it forward. I'd like to thank Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, I too had written to him for it".
Hints to quit Congress
While talking to the news agency, Dr. Karan Singh dropped hints to quit Congress because he has not been assigned any work by the party leadership.
"I had joined Congress in 1967. But in the last 8-10 yrs, I'm no more in Parliament, I was dropped from the working committee. Yes, I'm in Congress but there's no contact, nobody asks me anything. I do my work. My relations with the party are almost zero now".
Younger son in BJP; elder one already left Congress
Vikramaditya Singh, elder son of Dr. Karan Singh has already resigned from the Congress party. Vikramaditya Singh is the brother-in-law of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Vikramaditya Singh had started his political inning as leader of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) but he resigned as a member of the Legislative council and PDP over the issue of a holiday on the birthday of his grandfather Maharaja Hari Singh.
He joined Congress and contested the Lok Sabha election as a party candidate from the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 where he lost to Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh.
On March 22, 2022, he tendered his resignation from the primary membership of Congress.
Ajatshatru Singh, the younger son of Dr. Karan Singh is already in BJP. He was earlier a member of the National Conference and was a cabinet minister in the government headed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah from 1996 to 2002.
