The Congress is battling an internal war which could severely affect its electoral prospects in 2014 lok Sabha elections. Both the “generals” — Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa and former Chief Minister and Congress Working Committee member Capt Amarinder Singh — have trained their guns against each other when the parliamentary polls are barely six months away.
With the struggle of outsmarting one another continuing between the two, their respective battalions of soldiers have also come out in their open support, while some are standing behind calmly.
The battle between the two for one-upmanship and political superiority is expected to turn all the more fierce in the coming months as the party chooses its soldiers to fight the rivals during the lok Sabha elections.
Already, Bajwa is trying to project himself as a ‘general’ who will lead the party to the victory by launching a mass contact programme.
Bajwa is also making attempts to shift Capt Amarinder’s base from the State to the Centre by projecting him as the party’s “best candidate” to take on the Badals at their home turf — Bathinda parliamentary constituency against sitting MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
The move is being interpreted as one leading to win-win situation for Bajwa. In case, Capt Amarinder fights the election from Bathinda and looses, Bajwa’s position as the ideal party chief is expected to be consolidated further. On the other, if Capt Amarinder wins, he will be safely pushed out of the State politics.
Back in action after a lull, Capt Amarinder has recently questioned Bajwa’s authority to announce the candidates for the impending lok Sabha polls. The Maharaja also flexed his muscles by indulging in lunch diplomacy inviting sitting and former MlAs, district presidents and Youth Congress and NSUI leaders for a luncheon meeting at his Chandigarh residence.
If that was not enough, Capt Amarinder had also announced to tour the entire State in September — at a time when his successor Bajwa is already carrying out his ‘mass contact programme’, but was asked to lay off by the High Command denying parallel rallies in the State.
The recent developments have been signaling that the party high command is planning to give ‘Patiala Royal’ more responsibility in the State party unit ahead of the crucial lok Sabha polls, by asking him to remain active in State politics.
As the two generals are chipping on each others’ shoulder with both having their own supporters, the conflict from within is also expected to be tough. Insiders agree that it is hard to say whose supporters outnumber whom.
Already the State Congress unit is marred by factionalism and dissension among the party cadre that has even cost the party back-to-back defeats in five consecutive elections. Failing to learn lessons from its past mistakes, the Congress leadership stand divided, besides the emergence of two power centers within the party — one headed by Bajwa, and another by Capt Amarinder, with their own set of loyalists.
The divided house become all the more apparent following the “letter bomb” thrown by the sitting party MlA from Raja Sansi Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria criticizing party leadership in Punjab under Bajwa and showering praises on Capt Amarinder.
Without naming the former Chief Minister in his letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, the “rebel” MlA urged the party high command to “give the party leadership in Punjab back to a person recognised by the entire top leadership and who can take everyone along”.
On one hand where the Bajwa loyalists have supported him demanding Sarakaria’s expulsion from the party, leaders owing allegiance to Capt Amarinder’s camp has urged Bajwa to settle the “party’s internal matter by talking to the aggrieved leader”.
“Such things keep on happening within the party…each MlA has his own viewpoint. It may be possible he might not like something about the president which is generally appreciated by all. So, it would be better to resolve such issue at the party level, and not in the media…Demand of his expulsion is unnecessary,” a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity, told The Pioneer.
Another leader added that there are speculations that Sarkaria may switch his loyalty towards the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) as he was unhappy with the appointment of OP Soni as the party’s Majha zone in-charge.
Restraining to comment on Sarkaria’s letter, State party chief Partap Singh Bajwa told The Pioneer that the High Command would take the call on the issue. “The letter has been addressed to the high command and it would decide what to do,” he added.
Bajwa said: “I had earlier listened to Sarkaria’s grievances at couple of times, visited his house…he had some issues in Amritsar. But, I think that was resolved….But now, Sonia ji will decide.”