Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday appointed Punjab MLA Gurkirat Singh Kotli as AICC Secretary for Himachal Pradesh, a party release said.
He will take over charge immediately, the release said.
Rajni Patil is the party in-charge of the state, having replaced General Secretary and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde who was appointed ahead of the 2017 assembly elections.
Kotli, a grandson of slain Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh, had faced trial in the 1994 abduction and molestation of a French tourist Katia Darnand.
Although Kotli and accomplices were acquitted in the case on April 10, 1999, after the victim failed to pursue the matter, the ghost of the past continues to loom over him.
Gandhi’s decision to make Kotli the AICC secretary for Himachal is part of his ongoing party restructuring drive. Only recently, Gandhi rested former minister Sushil Kumar Shinde as AICC General Secretary for Himachal, appointing lesser-known former Rajya Sabha MP Rajni Patil as state in charge instead.
Back in Delhi, Congress insiders raised eyebrows on Kotli’s appointment considering the National Commission for Women sent a notice to Punjab Government in September 2017 in a petition demanding reopening of the Katia molestation case.
The petition was filed by Akali Dal leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa.
