New Delhi: Ending weeks of speculation, the Congress has finally revealed its decision to give Rahul Gandhi's close aides the charge of the Punjab unit. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who had asked former state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu to resign after the party’s poll loss, finalized the names of Amarinder Singh Raja as the state head and Partap Singh Bajwa as the assembly party leader on Saturday night. Additionally, Bharat Bhushan Ashu has been named as the working president while Raj Kumar Chhabbewal will be the deputy CLP leader.
Though the decisions were announced in the name of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi's imprint was amply clear in the appointments. In 2014, Rahul had made Raja Warring the Youth Congress chief while subsequently fielding him from the Gidderbaha assembly seat, which Amarinder Raja had retained for the third term. He emerged as a firebrand leader while heading the Youth Congress, and was later appreciated for his tenure as state transport minister under chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
Raja Warring’s appointment as the new Punjab Congress chief can also be considered indicative of the party being fiercely prepared to fight the AAP government, currently in power in the northern states. Meanwhile, though Partap Bajwa had been named as the state unit chief by Rahul before the 2017 assembly polls, he had to finally settle for Amarinder Singh, who had apparently promised to win the state back and had the backing of most lawmakers.