Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa’s loyal soldiers may not have to wait for long to find an official position in his battalion.
After a resounding defeat of the Congress in the Assembly polls held in four States, the party has decided not to further delay the announcement of the “already delayed” list of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) office bearers, ahead the crucial 2014 lok Sabha elections. If assertions of general secretary in-charge of the Punjab Congress Shakeel Ahmad are to be believed, the PPCC president is going to announce the list sometime in the next week.
On the other hand, sources within the party have maintained that the list may still be delayed due to the Congress’ collapse in four States of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattigarh, and may take some more time for deliberations and discussions. Almost a year has passed since the Gurdaspur MP Bajwa took over as PPCC president in March this year, but he is still functioning without his own officially-constituted team. He has continued with the functioning with the team of his predecessor Capt Amarinder Singh.
Time and again, PPCC chief and also the secretary and general secretary in-charges of the State party unit has been maintaining to announce the list of PPCC office bearers, but the same was being delayed on one pretext or another. Earlier, the PPCC president took his time to prepare the list by strategically giving adequate representation to members of different castes, age and religion in his new team, and then the party high command took its own time to scan the same.
Then, following elections and engagement of senior party leaders, the declaration of list was delayed further. Now, the list has received the nod of party chief Sonia Gandhi. “This list has received the approval of the party high command. It will be announced on Monday or Tuesday…or sometime next week,” Shakeel Ahmad told The Pioneer.
He said that while preparing the list, special care has been taken to accommodate different sections. “We have tried to accommodate different sections…youngsters, senior leaders too, female leaders and all,” he said, adding that certain points needed to be discussed, and that would be over by next week, and list would be announced.
Aiming at taking everyone along just before 2014 parliamentary polls, Bajwa has cautiously constituted his team. Before deciding on the names to be included in his squad, he first undertook statewide tour, and met All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
All through, he treaded his way cautiously, especially after facing embarrassment when he was asked to withdraw five appointments he made of his officer bearers including his brother Fateh Singh Bajwa as general secretary in-charge of party office, and former MlA Sukhpal Singh Khaira as party chief spokesperson.
Eyeing for a “team that will stay for the next 15 years” owing to a generational shift within the party with a 56-year-olds’s appointment as PPCC president replacing 72-year-old Capt Amarinder, Bajwa has been trying to include young faces, by not ignoring the senior and experienced leaders. Besides the age and experience, other factors taken into consideration are “regional and caste equations”, along with accommodating female leaders too.
The team of office bearers, normally having the names of the loyalists of the PPCC president, includes the vice presidents, general secretaries and members of executive committee, permanent invitees, besides the constitution of manifesto and coordination committees. Bajwa’s predecessor, Capt Amarinder had appointed six vice-presidents, eight general secretaries and 33 members of Executive Committee, and 17 permanent invitees, after a period of eight months of assuming the charge of the party’s state top post.
There is no cap, as such, on the total number of office bearers. While the earlier teams had witnessed as many as 1,200 names, Capt Amarinder’s team has barely over 100 members. Sources say Bajwa team is going to be “huge” with more than 250 members, with 12 vice-presidents. The list would also include the four zonal vice-presidents, whose appointment has been retained. Also, many district presidents have also been changed.