Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee’s (PPCC) attempt to put up a united face in its political conference at Maghi Mela on Tuesday failed with several senior party leaders, including former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, besides several “disgruntled” leaders not taking part in the rally.
Nonetheless, the presence of state party unit’s general secretary in-charge Shakeel Ahmad, and neighbouring Haryana’s Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to some extent, came as a face-saving exercise for the state party chief Partap Singh Bajwa. The issue of drugs, and the water logging in the Malwa region ruled over the meet.
Fully endorsing the state party chief’s agitation against drugs and demand for CBI probe into Rs 6,000 crore drug racket, Ahmad said that the All Indian Congress Committee (AICC) too fully backed Bajwa’s agitation. “Demanding CBI inquiry into drug racket is not the personal decision of PPCC president. AICC has fully endorsed the demand for CBI probe,” added Ahmad.
The development is significant as Bajwa’s bête noire Capt Amarinder, also the permanent invitee of Congress Working Committee (CWC) has opposed CBI probe, and praised the working of the Punjab police in the case. Ahmad also described Bajwa as an effective president asardaar sardar, adding that the party leaders are united under his leadership.
Maintaining that the SAD leaders had started false propaganda against him to “divert people’s attention”, Bajwa challenged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to order CBI inquiry into the involvement of Congress leaders, as well as his Ministers in the drug trade from 2002 to 2007. Calling upon the people to wage a war against drug mafia and dethrone the SAD-BJP Government for promoting mafia culture in Punjab, Bajwa said that Badals had taken the people of Punjab for granted and went on to ruin Punjab to serve his political interests.
“SAD leaders are not better than Talibans who took the drug route to lay their control over people of Afghanistan,” he added. Bajwa said that situation in Punjab was alarming and any laxity would push Punjab into rule of anarchy. “A study conducted in ludhiana in 2012 had revealed that 67 per cent of the school and college-going boys and 52 per cent of the girls had tried drugs,” said Bajwa appealing the people to express their anger against drug menace by supporting chakka jam for two hours on January 16.
Backing Bajwa on agitation against drug, former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal said that Congress must present united face to go to lok Sabha elections.