Pushed out of the saddle by the newly appointed Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa just after the party’s resounding defeat in the Moga by-polls in February this year, former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is holding the reins again.
Relegated into the past following a series of defeats, the Congress leadership at New Delhi today reposed trust in Capt Amarinder Singh’s abilities once again by appointing him as “permanent Invitee” to the all powerful Congress Working Committee (CWC).
With this, it is amply clear that it is not the end of the political road for the Patiala Royal. He is, in fact, expected to be given more responsibility in the State party unit, ahead of the crucial lok Sabha polls scheduled in 2014.
The development also indicates bumpy road ahead for Bajwa. Until about a month back, Bajwa’s elevation to the party top slot was not even a matter of surmises and conjunctures. In fact, his loyalists were sure that the party would go to the lok Sabha polls with Bajwa at the helm of affairs. But, with Capt Amarinder Singh’s return, the mood is not so enthusiastic in the Bajwa camp, apparently.
The fact that the Congress party media cell, virtually controlled by the Bajwa camp, maintained a strategic silence on the issue provides a testimony to this effect.
Expressing his gratitude to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi for inducting him into the party’s highest decision-making body, Capt Amarinder said that he felt honoured and privileged for having been inducted as a permanent invitee into the CWC with members including Gandhi herself, the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi among others.
“I will ensure to come up to the expectations of the Congress president and the vice president, both of whom have always reposed so much faith and confidence in him,” he said.
Capt Amarinder Singh’s appointment, it seems, has been well-timed by the party leadership at Delhi. Though the Central leadership is trying to downplay the move by terming it as routine and a part of nation-wide shuffle for obvious reasons, it comes days after the Congress party’s in the recently-held Zila Parishad and Block Samiti elections under Bajwa’s leadership. The polls, in fact, were in fact the first to be held under Bajwa’s control and supervision.
The appointment has also brought a whiff of freshness and enthusiasm in Capt Amarinder Singh’s camp just more than a fortnight before the panchayat polls, which are scheduled for July 3.
His loyalists were, on the face of it, feeling a little subdued with Bajwa relegating Capt Amarinder Singh to a position, where he was being forced to play a second fiddle. But, with the appointment is expected to go a long way in compelling them to move out in the field with greater zeal to campaign in panchayat polls.
“Capt Amarinder is expected to be given more responsibility ahead of the lok Sabha elections in the state. It is expected to be given the charge of campaigning. Moreover, his appointment was made with the aim of bringing more unity and giving more strength top the party is the state which is going through its worst patch,” a senior Congress leader told The Pioneer.
Just as the back-to-back elections gave a “chance” to royal scion to consolidate his position during his tenure as state Congress president, the series of defeats evoked the demands for his ouster from the position of the party’s state chief since assembly polls, every time the party faced another defeat under his leadership.
After party’s resounding defeat in 2012 assembly polls, and others that followed, Capt Amarinder was face-to-face with adversaries, internal bickering, and opposition from within. In fact, some of the young Congress leaders had openly revolted against him, seeking his ouster from the party’s top post.
And with the party’s defeat under his leadership in Moga by-polls, the strong winds of hostility had swept him off his feet, with the appointment of his detractor Bajwa as PPCC chief.
In fact, the party’s organizational changes other than Capt Amarinder’s appointment, are also made with the expectations of bringing a transformation in the party’s fortunes in the state.
Former Union minister and party’s national spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad has been made in-charge of Punjab, replacing Gulchain Singh Charak. Apart from Punjab, he would also be heading the party affairs in the states of Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh.
In a major reshuffle, the AICC has also appointed former Union Minister and party’s senior leader from Punjab Ambika Soni as general secretary in-charge for Congress President’s office. In addition to AICC general secretary’s post, she will also be looking at the party’s functioning in three states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand.
Another parliamentarian from the State, Jalandhar MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee, has also been appointed special invitee to the CWC. Earlier Capt Amarinder’s one of the detractors, Jagmeet Brar, was among the special invitees to the CWC from the state. Brar, who was also in the race for the party’s top post, was the in-charge of Goa.
Batala MlA Ashwani Sekhri and Fatehgarh Sahib MlA Kuljit Nagra have both been appointed All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretaries.