Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Sunday questioned why the Congress had not taken action against its Jammu and Kashmir state chief for purportedly speaking in support of the outfits that had protested the arrests in the Kathua rape and murder case. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader also sought stringent punishment for the guilty in the case.

“When two of our ministers tried to bring forward the views of the local population, the Congress and the media raised a hue and cry,” Javadekar said on Sunday. “Both have now resigned. [Congress President] Rahul Gandhi organises candlelight marches against the rapes, but why doesn’t he act against his own state chief [who had made similar remarks]? Pointing fingers at others but protecting people who do the same – this is the Congress’ character.”

Javadekar was referring to two BJP legislators in Jammu and Kashmir – Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga – who resigned on Friday amid massive outrage after they participated in a rally that was organised in support of a man arrested in connection with the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti accepted their resignations on Sunday and forwarded them to Governor Narinder Nath Vora.

In a video, Jammu and Kashmir Congress President Ghulam Ahmad Mir was seen suggesting that the real culprits in the case were being protected, and that the distrust of local residents in the investigation could not be ignored. He had also said that those who had organised the rally to support the accused had never said the victim should not get justice, Republic TV reported.

After the video emerged, Mir had defended his statement saying he had only commented on the credibility of the investigation in the eyes of the public.

Later on Sunday, the Congress dismissed Javadekar’s call for action against Mir, saying it was his demand that pushed the investigation into the case initially.

At his press conference on Sunday, Javadekar also asked Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to apologise to the nation because the head of the Bar Association of Jammu, BS Slathia, was reportedly his polling agent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The Bar Association of Jammu had supported the lawyers who had tried to stop the police in Kathua from filing a chargesheet against the accused in the rape and murder case on April 9.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi had also made the accusation against Azad at her press conference on Friday.