Just three days before Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra’s entry into Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress party on Tuesday suffered a setback as its spokeswoman Deepika Pushkar Nath announced her resignation from the party.?

The Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra will enter J&K on Friday. Besides the Congress leadership, the Yatra will see participation of top J&K leaders — Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah of J&K National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, and MY Taragami of CPM.

Nath resigned from the Congress party over the participation of former J&K minister Lal Singh in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, who she accused of siding with the alleged rapists in the Kathua Rape Case. ?

In view of Singh joining the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Nath said she was left with no other option but to resign from Congress.?

Nath told Outlook, “Lal Singh is responsible in sabotaging the Kathua rape case in 2018 by brazenly defending rapists. How can I be part of the rally in which there will be Lal Singh? Everyone knows his role in Kathua rape case. Lal Singh is the person who divided Jammu and Kashmir over this heinous crime and tried to give it a religious colour.

“I am shocked to see that Congress has?no objection?in allowing Lal Singh to join the Yatra, which has the sole purpose to unite India and spread the message of brotherhood.”

In 2018, Singh was forced to resign by the then Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti as Jammu & Kashmir Forest Minister after he allegedly expressed support for the accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua that year.?

In 2019, Lal Singh left the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and formed his own party named Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan (DSS). The BJP was the junior partner of Mehbooba’s PDP in J&K government during 2015-18.?

Though the BJP has not commented on the issue so far, it has already started launching scathing attacks on the Bharat Jodo Yatra.?

“Rahul Gandhi must come clear on grave mistakes done by Congress in relation to Jammu & Kashmir before leading Bharat Jodo Yatra to J&K,” said BJP Spokesperson Sunil Sethi.

He added, “When Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir was willing for accession in June-July 1947, Pandit Nehru resisted the historic steps in order to allot a greater role to Sheikh Abdullah and deliberately tried to sideline the Maharaja. Good decisions at that time could have prevented loss of uncountable precious lives in J&K's later.

“Indian forces were successfully marching ahead on the occupied lands. Why did Pandit Nehru take the matter to the UN stopping the triumphant Indian forces?

“Why Pt. Nehru raised the issue of plebiscite? Nehru's decision to declare J&K's accession to be ‘provisional’ led to the birth of Article 370.”

On January 20, the Rahul-led padayatra will reach Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district. The Yatra will conclude in Srinagar on January 30 with Rahul unfurling the national flag at the Congress headquarters in the Union territory.?