Punjab Congress on Wednesday faced a vertical split, just about three months before the Punjab polls. Once again bringing to fore the Congress infighting, the party leaders owing allegiance to its Punjab unit chief Capt Amarinder Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa engaged in war of words.
The slanging match started couple of days after Bajwa maintained that ticket should only be allotted to the conventional Congressmen and not the one who had joined the party later.
While the Capt Amarinder’s camp warned Bajwa against trying to encroach on the prerogative of the party leadership, Bajwa’s supporters maintained that he had only reiterated the AICC resolution duly passed at the Jaipur Session of 2013.
Asking Bajwa to keep “out of business” that was no concern of his, party MlAs Sukhinder Randhawa, Sukh Sarkaria and Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa accused the former state party chief of trying to intrude into the domain of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) led by Capt Amarinder as well as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) led by president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi.
The leaders urged the former PPCC president to refrain from interfering in matters that are the party leadership’s privilege.
“Bajwa has no business meddling in ticket related matters and should, instead, concentrate on his own work. As a seasoned politician, he should know where to draw the line when speaking in public about party matters…Bajwa should keep out of things that are no concern of his,” they said.
PPCC leaders also called upon Bajwa to stick to his primary task of nurturing his constituency and helping take the Punjab Congress’ campaign for the assembly polls effectively forward instead of indulging in issuing statements on matters that are beyond the realm of his profile.
The decision to allot tickets is the prerogative of the party president Sonia Gandhi, they said, adding that Bajwa had absolutely no locus standi in the matter
Defending Bajwa, Congress MlAs Ashwani Sekhri, Bajwa’s MlA wife Charanjit Kaur Bajwa, and senior leader Inderjit Randhawa stated that Bajwa’s views echoed the AICC’s resolution on the issue of tickets’ allotment that had the approval and concurrence of the entire Congress leadership in the best interest of the party.
lashing out against non-entities questioning the locus standi of Bajwa, they emphatically stated that Bajwa would continue to remain committed to the true ideals of the Congress party and would tirelessly strive for strengthening the party.
The leaders added that fly by night leaders with questionable integrity and driven by vested interest have no authority to question Bajwa’s credentials. They asserted it was for the state party president Capt Amarinder Singh to speak his mind as Bajwa is not only his predecessor but also a Member of Parliament.
“The issue is not of encroaching upon the prerogative or the authority of the party leadership but that of keeping the party interests supreme and above vested personal interests,” they added.