Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa’s own men are not standing by him in his tirade against drug menace in Punjab.
Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and former MP Jagmeet Brar have so far refused to support Bajwa and his demand for a CBI probe into Rs 6,000-crore drug racket case. While the Patiala royal has reiterated his stand opposing the CBI probe in the matter, Brar remained evasive over the issue of joining Bajwa’s campaign.
The development assumes significance as a day before, Bajwa has offered to extend an olive branch to his bête noire Capt Amarinder and Brar, who is fighting against drug menace in the state on his own, seeking his support for the party’s agitation. Sticking to his stand against the CBI probe, Capt Amarinder in fact dubbed Bajwa’s call for agitation as “diversionary tactics” to deviate attention from the controversy over the office bearers’ list of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC).
“This whole business of dramatising the CBI approach is meant to divert the opinion in the party, which has split down the center on the question of leaving deserving and senior members out as office bearers of the executive and the district Congress committees where many presidents who have done exceedingly well in their districts were removed to accommodate favourites,” said Capt Amarinder.
Days after the list was released on December 27, last year, the “discontented” leaders have been openly airing their discontentment over the PPCC, alleging Bajwa of adopting the ways of “nepotism”, “poor representation” and “betraying” those supported the party, and especially him.
Capt Amarinder Singh had also hit out at Bajwa, saying that he would soon meet party president Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the matter. The matter was settled down, at least for the time being, by constituting a four-member panel to hear the grievances, and submit report within a month. On the other hand, senior Congress leader Brar maintained that he had not been invited to join hunger strike so far, but neither refused nor agreed to join Bajwa’s protest.
“I would take a decision on whether to participate in the protest or not if I am invited for the same,” he added. Combating “on its own”, Brar said that he did not want to give the “serious” issue any political hue, and thus, “fighting it out on my own”. The former Chief Minister, instead, emphasised on the need for formulating a comprehensive National Drug Policy, maintaining that a “single State cannot confront the problem alone”.