Srinagar, July 11 (IANS) Miffed over his exclusion from the Jammu and Kashmir ministry that was expanded earlier in the day, the leader of the Congress party in the state assembly stepped down from the post Saturday over his “personal humiliation”.
However Chowdhary Mohammed Aslam, a Congress veteran, decided to continue as a legislator in the 87-member state assembly.

“It was a personal humiliation for me. As a senior leader of the party, I should have been taken into confidence about the inclusion of Congress leaders in the cabinet expansion,” he said.

Aslam was speaking at a news conference soon after after 13 ministers were sworn in here.

“After 11 a.m. today, the situation took a new turn and I was not consulted at all. The Congress high command must take a serious note of how the state unit of the party is carrying out its responsibilities towards the people,” he said.

Highly placed sources said Aslam had been sounded for inclusion in the state cabinet earlier but the decision to withdraw his name from the list forwarded to the chief minister by the Congress party was taken at the last minute.

The former state Congress chief had won the 2008 assembly elections from Surankote constituency in the Jammu region.

Aslam has also served as a finance minister of the state.