Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday dissociated herself from the controversial list of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC)s office-bearers that specified their caste names,which is banned under the SC/ST Act. I do not know, Gandhi told reporters about the PCC list at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. As reported by The Indian Express on Tuesday,the 562-member PCC list,signed by the AICC in charge of Bihar,Jagdish Tytler,included Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as Permanent Invitee. The list specified the caste names of office-bearers,including that of Kumar. Asked about it,Kumar said,I belong to a political party. As a Speaker,I believe in strict neutrality of the chair. The Congress,in the mean time,swung into damage control exercise on Tuesday,even as the Bihar Dalit Morcha burnt Tytlers effigies. Senior Congress leaders in Delhi maintained that the list with caste names was an internal document and the SC/ST Act applied only if they were used publicly.
