Amid talks of changes in Punjab Cong, Amarinder meets Sonia
Wednesday, 02/09/2015
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Chandigarh : Amid talks of restructuring of the factionalism-ridden party unit in the state, which goes to Assembly polls in early 2017, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. Captain, who is the Congress Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha, met the Congress President for the second time in less than a fortnight.
“I have made known my views and it is up to them (the high command) to decide,” he said after the meeting, when asked about his demand for removal of his bête-noir Partap Singh Bajwa from the post of Punjab Congress president. He spoke in similar vein when asked about reports of senior party leader Ambika Soni being the possible candidate to replace Bajwa. The Congress top brass has initiated efforts to put its house in order in the factionalism-ridden state unit, with Sonia and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi separately meeting senior leaders from the state. Amarinder had last met Sonia and Rahul together on August 20 and held lengthy deliberations with the two leaders over the party’s plans in Punjab. Bajwa and state leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal had also separately met Rahul and Sonia.
Meanwhile, ahead of the possible restructuring of Punjab unit, several state leaders have launched separate agitations against the Akali-BJP government, besides organising rallies, in an apparent bid to show their support base and individual strength. These programmes are also an attempt by these leaders to apparently impress upon the party’s top brass ahead of any leadership change in the state. Punjab Congress has been a divided lot ever since it lost two successive elections in the state and former CM Singh was replaced by Bajwa as the party chief.
With the state set to go to polls in early 2017, the demand for replacing Bajwa have grown louder and the party leadership is grappling with the issue for almost a year now. The emergence of AAP in Punjab in last Lok Sabha polls by securing four of the 13 seats has also rung alarm bells in the Congress camp, given the fact that the state polity so far was bipolar between Congress on one side and the Akali Dal-BJP on the other.
