Capt’s tour from today, Cong cracks whip on his loyalists

Wednesday, 01/07/2015

http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

TUSSLE Disciplinary panel issues show-cause notices to 3 leaders for ‘deliberately harming’ party; Amarinder camp questions timing

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Congress is again heading for a collision course. A day before Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Captain Amarinder Singh is to launch his state tour from Jalandhar, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) headed by Partap Singh Bajwa slapped show-cause notices on three of his loyalists for “deliberately acting in a calculative way to defy the party and lower its prestige”.

The three leaders who have been issued notices by Congress state disciplinary committee head Gopal Krishan Chatrath include Jalandhar district party unit (rural) chief Jagbir Brar, who is organising Amarinder’s rally in Jalandhar on Wednesday. In separate notices, Jagbir Brar and PPCC general secretary Satnam Kaith have been asked to explain their absence from Adampur constituency during Bajwa’s mass contact programme on June 12. The third notice has been shot off to Muktsar MLA Karan Brar for her purported statement to a TV channel that she would join Amarinder if he floats a new party.

The Amarinder camp reacted to the notices with defiance. A Captain loyalist, MLA Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, issued a statement officially announcing the campaign and saying that the Jalandhar rally was being organised by Jagbir Brar, adding that 12 such meetings would be organised across the state. The Captain camp questioned the “timing and motive” of the move, saying that it was being done deliberately on the eve of the launch of campaign.

AICC general secretary in-charge for Punjab affairs Shakeel Ahmad said he had given the PPCC the go-ahead for issuing the notices. “Bajwa had written to me about the acts of indiscipline by the three leaders. I checked the complaint and found merit in it. Since the three are not members of the AICC, I asked the PPCC to issue them notices. We will take action after receiving their reply,” he said. Again expressing ignorance about Captain’s programme, he said Amarinder had neither made a statement announcing it nor informed them. “We have no information about the programme. I cannot object to a party leader’s tour for meeting party workers and people, unless something is said against state or central Congress leaders or the party’s established principles and policies,” he added.