The political developments that unfolded in the Punjab Congress party unit on Friday made it clear that the two warring sections, led by the State party chief Capt Amarinder Singh and his bête noire Partap Singh Bajwa, had neither been left dissatisfied nor happy.
In a strategic move aimed at balancing things out within the faction-ridden State Congress unit besides giving a “young” team to lead the party in the Assembly, party chief Sonia Gandhi appointed “neutral” Dalit MlA Charanjit Singh Channi as Congress legislative Party (ClP) leader in Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
Chamkaur Sahib legislator replaces Capt Amarinder’s staunch loyalist Sunil Kumar Jakhar, who has already submitted his resignation to the party high command. Newly-appointed Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder has been pressing for Jakhar’s reappointment as ClP leader.
Besides Channi, the party high command has also appointed ludhiana West MlA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, a strong Bajwa supporter, as deputy ClP leader, along with Sultanpur lodhi MlA Navtej Singh Cheema as party’s chief whip in the House.
“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed Charanjit Singh Channi as its ClP leader in Punjab and Bharat Bhushan Ashu as deputy ClP leader. Navtej Singh Cheema will be the new chief whip of the party in Punjab Assembly,” said the Congress general secretary and in-charge of Punjab affairs Shakeel Ahmad.
The decision came a week after the party MlAs had authorised Congress president to take a decision on the ClP leader after they aired their views to the two party observers sent by the party high command — RPN Singh and Satyavrat Chaturvedi.
After handing over the party reins in the state to Capt Amarinder only recently, the party high command has attempted to ensure that it would not be a one-man-show. For the same, the high command has tried to give representation to different factions and categories working on its social engineering formula.
The appointment of Channi, who belongs to the dominant Ravidasia community, is being seen as the Congress’ attempt to woo the Dalit voters, which constitute more than 30 percent, in the state. All the major political parties, including the SAD, BJP, Congress, and even the Aam Aadmi Party are wooing the SC community, once considered to be Congress’ vote-bank.
Giving representation to all sections of society, the party has given major responsibilities to Ashu, representing Hindus, and Cheema, representing Jat Sikhs.
This is the second reshuffle in the state organisational set-up after the appointment of Capt Amarinder as PPCC chief and senior leader lal Singh as senior vice-president besides former Union Minister Ambika Soni as campaign committee head.
In a generational shift, the party high command has appointed a “young team” for the state assembly — indicating at the generational shift. Available information suggests that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi has decided upon the names and opted for young faces. All the new-appointed leaders are in their 40s.
“By bringing forth the young faces, the party is creating a second line of leadership in the state for future…All these leaders are young, vocal in the House raising issues against the ruling SAD-BJP, young and energetic…they will infuse new strength to the party in the assembly,” a senior Congress leader told The Pioneer.
Before arriving at the decisions to announce new organisational setup, the party high command had held series of meetings, and deliberations with state party leaders, MlA, MPs, district and block presidents.
Rahul had even held separate meetings with Channi and Dinanagar MlA Aruna Chaudhary, whose name was also considered for the ClP leadership besides former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Raj Kumar Verka, Brahm Mohindra, OP Soni.
Keeping 2017 state assembly polls in mind, the party has made an attempt to give representation to all regions and sections in the state.