Capt loyalists confident he will remain as PCC chief

Saturday, 13/10/2012

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121013/punjab.htm#4

Chandigarh : A day after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s two-day visit to Punjab, Pradesh Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh's camp is confident that he will continue to remain at the helm of affairs in the state.

The camp proved that it called the shots by mustering the support of 33 legislators and 20 former district Congress committee (DCC) presidents today.

The Amarinder camp had been put on the defensive yesterday with a number of former Pradesh Congress and DCC presidents calling for his ouster in favour of a person "steeped in the Congress culture." Sources said the show of strength put up by Amarinder loyalists served as a message to the party high command that the PCC chief continued to be the most popular Congress leader in the state. The Amarinder camp was at its diplomatic best stating that Rahul’s visit had boosted the morale of the party rank and file, urging him to conduct more such exercises.

It has, however, adopted a rigid stand against “vested interests” who it claims had launched a “disinformation campaign” during Rahul’s visit. Claiming that even the media had been “misled” by such people, the MLAs and district presidents urged the party high command to identify such leaders and take strict action against them.

The leaders claimed that contrary to reports, there was no demand for a change in the PCC leadership during Rahul’s visit. Rather, an overwhelming number of leaders, including block presidents, district presidents, former district presidents and MLAs had told Rahul that Amarinder was the tallest leader in the state who alone could take on the Akalis.

The Congress leaders claimed that an attempt was being made by these "vested interests" to give the impression that Rahul’s visit was aimed at changing the leadership in Punjab. This, they said, was far from the truth as Rahul had visited Punjab as part of his nationwide tour to meet party workers.

Meanwhile, Congress Legislature Party Leader Sunil Jakhar said Rahul had gone with the impression that Amarinder continued to enjoy the confidence of the party rank and file. Jakhar said in his view, Amarinder would continue as PCC chief, but with a few riders. Perhaps under a new arrangement, deputies could be attached with the PCC chief to assist him in day-to-day affairs.

Among the senior leaders and MLAs signatories to the statement released by the Amarinder camp today were Fatehjang Singh Bajwa and Rana KP besides legislators Lal Singh, Jagmohan Singh Kang, Ashwani Sekhri, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Kewal Dhillon, Arvind Khanna, Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu, Joginder Singh Panjgrian, Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Mohammad Sadiq, Harchand Kaur, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Ajit Inder Singh Mofar, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Hardayal Singh Kamboj, Guriqbal Kaur, Balbir Sidhu, Charanjit Singh Channi, Sunder Shyam Arora, Sangat Singh Giljian, Rajneesh Babbi, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Aruna Chaudhary, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sukh Sarkaria, OP Soni, Ramanjit Singh Sikki, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Gurcharan Singh Boparai, Surinder Dawar, Navtej Cheema and Amrik Dhillon