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.
As promised, Amarinder delivered a majority in Punjab with 77/117 seats for the Congress but had to be removed last year by the high command after a large section of the MLAs complained against him. Rahul had then promoted Navjot Sindhu as the state unit chief much against the wishes of Amarinder Singh, who later floated his own party Punjab Lok Congress, and joined hands with the BJP. Though the alliance did not work, the constant public spats between Sidhu and new chief minister Channi cost the party some losses in the recent assembly polls.
The Congress is down to 18 MLAs. As the leader of the opposition, Bajwa now has the responsibility to keep the Bhagwant Mann government on the toes inside the assembly and work along with Raja Warring to regain the lost ground outside. Both Raja and Bajwa promised to work along with party workers and take the Congress ideology forward and fight for the rights of Punjab. On his part, Sidhu, who had become politically active of late and had been targeting the AAP, welcomed the new team. Though a new team has been put in place, the AICC in charge of Punjab Harish Chaudhary is expected to ensure that there is no infighting in the state team.
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