Jain’s rivals from Cong now miserable in SAD
Tuesday, 15/01/2013
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MOGA: There are no permanent foes and friends in politics and no permanent positions either.
In Moga, where Congress l egislator Joginder Pal Jain opted for new bedfellows in the Shiromani Akali Dal ( SAD), expect a plenty of swinging in his re- election campaign.
Some of Jain’s rivals in the Congress, who joined the Akali Dal some time ago, now plan to either go back to the Congress or hop to the People’s Party of Punjab ( PPP), since they can’t tolerate Jain as official candidate. Jain’s defection forced the local assembly by- election.
Ranwinder Singh Pappu, a former president of the district Congress committee who switched to the SAD, has strong support in this assembly constituency. His grandfather, father, and he served the Congress for more than 90 years, and on its ticket, his family registered big victories in the panchayat, block samiti and zila parishad elections.
When the rift between Pappu and Jain became t oo wide, Pappu quit the Congress. He was loyal to former chief minister captain Amarinder Singh, whom he gave a written warning before quitting, saying many of his supporters could also leave the party because of differences with Jain.
“When the Congress high command did not pay attention to our grievances and tolerated Jain’s dictatorial controlling of colleagues, we moved over to the SAD, but now that he is back in the Akali camp, we are miserable again,” said Pappu.
“Many leaders who left the Congress because of differences with Jain now regret joining the SAD,” said another leader, who had switched loyalties on the persuasion of former director general of police PS Gill. “We look for new options, which are either returning to the Congress or joining the third front.” Some of the now disgruntled leaders await formal clearance from the Congress leadership to ditch the SAD.
CONFIDENCE IN SUKHBIR: JAIN
Akali candidate Jain has regretted his detractors’ doing “cheap politics”.
“They have rebelled against the party high command and tried to mislead the Taksali Akali workers in the rural areas,” said Jain on Monday. “I am the first legislator to resign and contest again from any constituency in the state. I hope party president Sukhbir Singh Badal will settle all revolts in another few days.”
