The war within Punjab Congress is getting worse by the day. At a time when the Congress high command is making every possible effort to placate the storm caused by intense infighting in the party unit in Punjab, the top-rung leaders have refused to stop washing their dirty linen in public.
Taking the power struggle to the next level, the State Congress president Partap Singh Bajwa has virtually blamed his bête noire Capt Amarinder Singh of ditching the Congress to float his own party with the support of the saffron brigade — an allegation outrighty refuted by the former Chief Minister on Tuesday with the “contempt they deserve”.
Senior Congress leader Capt Amarinder, before leaving for his 10-day personal visit to london, minced no words to call Bajwa a “failure”, and question his popularity and achievements as State party chief.
The going gets worse after Capt Amarinder, in an interview, made no attempt to hide his disillusionment at the party’s functioning. At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of looking at “other options”.
Amritsar MP went on to attack party vice-president Rahul Gandhi saying that he needed a “reality check” and nobody in the party high command was taking Punjab seriously.
To take advantage of the same, Bajwa claimed that his predecessor is all set to float his own party next year by the name of Punjab Vikas Party with the BJP’s support on Baisakhi at Talwandi Sabo, from where Capt Amarinder had contest Assembly polls when he parted ways with the Congress and joined Shiromani Akali Dal in 1984 in the wake of Operation Bluestar.
Bajwa even demanded to expel Capt Amarinder before he brings any harm upon it.
Reacting, Capt Amarinder dismissed Bajwa’s claims and charges he levelled against him as the “schizophrenic symptoms of a failed and frustrated man desperate about his own political survival”.
“It is natural for a failed and frustrated man like Bajwa to fulminate like this and clutch at the straws as he sees his removal imminent and inevitable,” said Capt Amarinder.