Making another attempt to pass with full grades, the Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday met the party high command Rahul Gandhi with his report card.
Presenting before the party high command the works done by him during his tenure as party president and its success rate, Bajwa was beaming with poise after the young Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi assured him to participate in padyatra, announced by him.
Besides, the Congress vice-president has also given a go-ahead to Bajwa for his ongoing mass contact programme and the following padyatra.
The Bajwa camp is all enthusiastic as they are interpreting the development as an indication that the former Gurdaspur MP is here to stay on the party’s top post in the State.
The development assumes significance as the party high command has summoned both Bajwa and his rival-colleague Capt Amarinder Singh to reportedly present their respective cases on separate days. As Bajwa has met Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, Capt Amarinder is scheduled to meet him and party chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday.
Both the senior most leaders in Punjab are in continuous slugfest over the party’s leadership ahead the 2017 State Assembly elections. The two are not letting any chance to go to gain complete control over the party.
As the former Chief Minister has been staking his claim for the party’s leadership in the State with the support of a majority of party MlAs, and other senior leaders, Bajwa has been making several attempts to prove his mettle and making an impact on the party high command by announcing programmes, participating in agitations and increasing political activity .
In Thursday’s meeting, Rahul Gandhi conveyed Bajwa that he would join the padyatra being organised by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee from October 2 after the conclusion of the ongoing programme to interact with the people in the 34 reserve Assembly constituencies to mobilise people against the degenerated and corrupt rule of the Akali Dal-BJP alliance in the state.
“Gandhi would join the padyatra to be launched by the PPCC from October 2 from Pathankot to cover the entire state in six phases. In each phase, the yatra will be done for 15 days. The padyatra would conclude at Amritsar after covering about 1000 km,” he said.
Bajwa apprised Gandhi about the mass contact programme launched by the party with focus on Dalits and weaker sections in particular across all the reserve constituencies. Under this programme, every section of the people is to be covered in general with special attention on the mobilization of the down trodden.
Gandhi gave a green signal to Bajwa to go ahead with the programme launched from Sri Hargobindpur on June 2, and would conclude on September 28.
Bajwa also apprised the party vice-president about the agitations launched by the party on issues concerning the masses.
He briefed him about the drug issue agitation which was done by the PPCC in which ultimately the summons was issued by the enforcement directorate. Besides, he cited the Moga bus molestation case “and how aggressively the PPCC took the issue to the streets ultimately the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued notices to the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal and his orbit bus company”.
After the protest by PPCC outside the Faridkot jail, the criminal offence against the students was taken back, he said. PPCC’s relentless fight for the upcoming resort of Badals at Pallanpur also made the High Court to intervene and stop the construction of the road to the resort, he added.