The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has sacked Congress leader and Maharashtra Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut as the chairman of its Scheduled Caste (SC) Department.
In a statement issued on Saturday, general secretary K C Venugopal said that the party had appointed Rajesh Lilothia as the AICC Scheduled Caste (SC) Department’s new chairman, in place of Raut.
Simultaneously, the Congress president appointed K Raju as the coordinator to oversee the activities of AICC SC/OBC/Minority Departments and All India Adivasi Congress with immediate effect.
However, the AICC did not specify the reason behind the removal of Dr Raut from the party post as the AICC’s Scheduled Caste (SC) Department chairman.
Meanwhile, Raut appeared to have taken his removal from the central party post in his stride. “This decision was expected 6 months ago. The Party president has taken this today,” Dr Raut said in a statement issued here on Saturday.
“I was unable to travel across the country and give justice to the post as I'm a minister in Maharashtra. That's why I requested the party president to free me from the post of President, SC department of AICC,” Dr Raut said.
“The party has a policy of one person one post,” he added.