Chaudhary saves Bajwa’s face, ends up losing his own

Sunday, 27/10/2013

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CHANDIGARH: It was a meeting with no agenda. But it ended with a clear message: Punjab Congress chief Partap Bajwa has the unflinching support of both the general secretary in-charge for Punjab, Shakeel Ahmed, and secretary in-charge Harish Chaudhary.

In a face-saving exercise, Ahmed first apologised and then justified the change of venue of the meeting called by Bajwa in Chandigarh to New Delhi on Saturday. A Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee release after the meeting read, “Ahmed said at the meeting that he had directed the PPCC president (Bajwa) to call a meeting of senior MLAs to discuss issues to be taken up in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Ahmed also said that he was not able to come to Chandigarh due to paucity of time and had asked Bajwa to shift the venue to Delhi.” However, while the agenda for Saturday’s meeting called by Bajwa was to decide on issues and the strategy for the assembly session, no discussion on the same took place.

Avoiding calling it a turf of Congress Legislative Party leader Sunil Jakhar, Ahmed left it to the MLAs to decide the strategy and issues. The meeting, for which senior MLAs were called to Delhi at a short notice, instead discussed the slow procurement of paddy. It was decided to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi to demand specifications for moisture and discoloration in paddy be relaxed.

Ahmed’s cover-up was followed by secretary in-charge for Punjab, Harish Chaudhary, going a step further. After Ahmed spoke about deputing senior Punjab leaders in pollbound Delhi and Rajasthan, Batala Congress MLA Ashwani Sekhri raised the issue of infighting within the state unit.

“If we go to a rally of former Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh, we are seen as his loyalist and if we go with Bajwa, we are seen as his loyalists,” he said. This led Chaudhary to shout at Sekhri. Though it silenced Sekhri, the tone and tenor of Chaudhary’s remarks fuelled a fresh controversy as some senior MLAs took objection to it.

While Ahmed and Chaudhary did the face-saving, Bajwa kept mum. The only time he spoke was when Jakhar directed a barb at him saying he would demand an inquiry into the controversy over the realty business of chief parliamentary secretary NK Sharma during the assembly session. Jakhar said since Sharma too has spoken about Bajwa’s realty business, it should not be construed as he (Jakhar) was gunning for him (Bajwa). To this Bajwa said that he was ready to face any inquiry and Jakhar could rake up the issue in the assembly.