Issuing tickets to the “new” instead of traditional candidates, desisting from fielding kith and kin, reasons for growing bickering, contesting polls unitedly, mounting dissidence, exodus from Congress, bringing back the rebels—were some of the suggestions and points of concerns raised by the Congress leaders in Jalandhar on Friday.
The issues were raised by the senior party leaders during the party workers’ meeting of the party’s Jalandhar district unit presided over by Congress’ State affairs in-Charge Asha Kumari.
The Congress leaders openly rued over the ongoing ‘infighting’ within the party which, according to them, may harm the prospects of Congress in the upcoming Assembly polls, scheduled to be held in 2017.
Renowned Punjabi folksinger and now a Congress leader Hans Raj Hans openly criticised the party for issuing tickets to some “influential” families in Punjab.
“It should be stopped. If Congress really wanted to win in Punjab, it should issue party tickets to new persons instead of traditional candidates,” he suggested.
Hinting at former president of the State’s Youth Congress Vikramjit Singh Choudhary, also the son of local MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh, Hans said that it was the right time that the Congress should come out of “families and try some new persons”.Congress district (rural) president Jagbir Singh Brar expressed his concerns of
people going away from the Congress.
“It is time to introspect that why people went away from the Congress, what went wrong and how to bring them backIJ” he wondered.
Senior party leader and former Minister Avtar Henry also expressed concern over the growing ‘bickering’ within the party. “If we will not get united, we cannot win the election. Everybody should understand it,” he said.