Singh was appointed the state unit chief following a bitter battle over leadership with the outgoing chief Partap Singh Bajwa who, party sources said, is likely to be accommodated in the AICC at the central level.
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With an eye to win back Punjab, where elections are scheduled in 2017, the Congress has brought back former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh as the party chief in the state.
“Bajwa and Jakhar have resigned”. Dalit leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot was appointed vice-chairman and Ravneet Singh Bittu, Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, was appointed convener of the campaign committee. Rahul has met state MLAs, district chiefs and even municipal committee chiefs in what the party today described as the “most comprehensive discussion possible on the matter”. Last week, Rahul Gandhi had led a delegation of party leaders from Punjab, including Amarinder and Bajwa, to President Pranab Mukherjee to project unity in the state unit.
Rahul also appointed former union Information & Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni to head the campaign committee.
Reacting to Amarinder’s appointment, his bete noire and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday said the ruling Shiromani Akal Dal (SAD) was “least bothered about Amarinder Singh or any other person taking over the command of the Congress”. Considered a diligent leader and credited with resurrecting the Congress after two successive assembly election defeats, Bajwa saw people rallying behind him for quite a few months.
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BJP Secretary Tarun Chugh questioned the silence of Congress over the presence over party leaders in the congregation near Amritsar where the conspiracy to malign Sikh institutions and throw back Punjab again in black days was hatched. The CM is believed to have chosen Khadoor Sahib to resume his sangat darshan programme in view of upcoming bypoll as this seat had fell vacant after resignation of Congress MLA Ramanjit Sikki.
