Amitabh Shukla | Chandigarh
A day after Congress lost badly
in Punjab and was pushed to the third position,
dissidence broke out in the party with the loyalists of former Chief Minister
and giant killer, Capt Amarinder Singh demanding the resignation of State party
president Partap Singh Bajwa.
Interestingly, even as the
Amarinder loyalists demanded the resignation of Bajwa, they refused to demand
the resignation of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi or vice-president Rahul Gandhi
under whose leadership the party gave its worst-ever performance in the last 60
years.
Congress had won only three of
the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab . In the outgoing House,
it had eight members. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) edged it to the third position by
bagging four seats and emerging as an alternative political force in the State
dominated by two parties — SAD-BJP on one side and Congress on the other.
The fresh bout of dissidence came
as Capt Amarinder emerged stronger after defeating BJP veteran and Leader of
Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley from the prestigious Amritsar
seat. In the entire country, the victory in Amritsar
is the only silver lining of the Congress as all its citadels were demolished.
The victory was all the more exciting for Capt Amarinder as he defeated
Jaitley, widely expected to be the number two in the Narendra Modi-led new
Government.
Though Capt Amarinder’s wife,
Preneet Kaur lost the Congress stronghold of Patiala
to AAP’s Dharamvira Gandhi, bringing into question the hold of the former
Maharaja in his backyard, the faction loyal to him believes that it was due to
Bajwa that the party lost badly. What has made matters worse for Bajwa now is
the fact that he himself lost to Vinod Khanna in Gurdaspur by 1.36 lakh votes
and the party could not even get lead in Qadian Assembly segment, represented
by his wife as MLA.
Firing the first salvo, Kewal
Singh Dhillon, vice-president of the PPCC along with several senior Congress
leaders and legislators demanded that Bajwa should own moral responsibility for
the party’s poor showing and resign from the post. They pointed out that it was
one of the worst performances by the party despite widespread anti-incumbency
prevailing against the Akali-BJP Government in the State. They did not refer to
the anti-incumbency prevailing against the UPA Government and the wave against
Congress in the entire country.
Aiming to hit when the iron is
hot, almost all who are loyal to Capt Amarinder are gunning for Bajwa now. They
were against Bajwa from the very beginning but now the defeat has given fresh
ammunition to them. Capt Amarinder was replaced as PCC president last year
after presiding over a series of defeats under his stewardship. The party lost
the 2012 Assembly polls when Capt Amarinder was the PCC president and the chief
ministerial candidate. It also lost the local body elections and byelections as
well.
Those who demanded the
resignation of Bajwa on Saturday include top leaders and MLAs — Kewal Singh
Dhillon, OP Soni, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Kikki Dhillon, Avtar Henry, Jugal
Kishore, Harchand Kaur, Mohammad Sadiq, Gupreet Kangar, Rana Gurjit, Surinder
Singla Ramanjit Singh Sikki, Rana KP, Love Kumar Goldy, Tarsem DC, Ranjeet
Singh Chhajalwadi, Sukh Sarkaria, Ch Jagjit, Raman Bhalla, Amrik Singh Dhillon,
Ajaib Singh Bhatti, Makhan Singh, Sher Singh Gaggowal, Surjit Singh Dhiman,
Ajaib Singh Rataul, Sunil Datti, Kaka Lohgar, Dr Agnihotri, Gur Iqbal Kaur and
Hardayal Kambhoj.
The first to demand the
resignation on the day of results itself was Guru Harsahai MLA Rana Gurmeet
Singh Sodhi, also a staunch supporter of Capt Amarinder.
“The unprecedented defeat of the
Congress in Punjab in the Parliamentary elections has
shamed and shocked everybody. PCC president Partap Singh Bajwa must own the
moral responsibility and resign from the post. However, if he declines to
resign, he must be removed,” they said.
Citing reasons, the leaders said
it was important to boost the morale of the party in Punjab
and handover the party leadership to a strong, powerful and charismatic leader
like Capt Amarinder Singh. “It is high time that the Congress high command
takes the immediate and radical measure lest it be too late and the party
suffers further,” they added.
Sidestepping any pretensions that
the “banner of revolt” against Bajwa is sponsored by Capt Amarinder himself,
the leaders maintained that Capt Amarinder has proved to be a mass leader not
once but several times and his victory against the BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley
has reinforced the public belief.
“Bajwa has failed as a leader. He
has not only led to the wrong selection of candidates for the Parliament, but
also not been able to provide the required leadership the party needed in
Punjab,” they said, adding, so many MLAs have left under his leadership as he
has not allowed his ego to be subdued to the party interest.
The party leaders said, Bajwa’s
replacement was also important to ensure that the continuous drift in the party
was arrested. They pointed out, the party vote share had fallen from 42 per
cent in 2012 to 32 per cent now.
Party sources in New Delhi said
that it is extremely unlikely that the central leadership of Congress will take
a call in Punjab as it will trigger
demands from the rest of the country and lead to demands for the resignation of
top leadership of the party — Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. (May 18, 2014)
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