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Matang Singh re-inducted in Cong? No, says Dwivedi

Last updated on: July 16, 2011 22:29 IST
Former union parliamentary affairs minister Matang Singh has been re-inducted into the Congress with immediate effect, said All India Congress Committee General Secretary Singh on Saturday. However, Janardan Dwivedi, AICC media in-charge, has denied this claim.  

When asked Dwivedi about the veracity of the reports, he told rediff.com that no decision regarding Matang Singh has been taken by the party and added that no individual is authorised to take this decision.

Digvijay Singh, who is in-charge of Assam (Matang Singh's home state), told mediapersons that the latter had met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and was taken back into the party. In fact, Digvijay Singh also issued a letter saying that the Assam leader was re-inducted.   

When contacted Matang Singh also confirmed that he had met both Gandhi and Digvijay Singh.

Matang Singh, a minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government, was expelled from the party in 2000 by the Congress chief for anti-party activities. He had been keeping a low profile since then and now runs a women's channel in Assam.

According to sources, Matang Singh met Gandhi at 10.30 hours on Saturday along with Digvijay Singh where his re-entry was approved. He then came to the AICC office with Digvijaya Singh where the general secretary announced that he was taken back because of the role he played in the recent Assam assembly elections.

Breaking the news of Matang Singh's comeback, the AICC general secretary seems to have crossed the line. Such decisions are announced by the media in-charge of the party followed by a press release. This entire process was   

was bypassed by Digvijay Singh and there was no official press release from the media department.

Soon after that Digvijaya Singh left for Madhya Pradesh and was not available for comment.

Renu Mittal in New Delhi