The Punjab unit of the Congress saw Captain Amarinder Singh being appointed as chief of the Congress in the state.
On Thursday, Partap Singh Bajwa had resigned as the chief of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) to make way for the former Chief Minister to lead the party ahead of 2017 Assembly polls. Singh is the party’s lawmaker from Amritsar and its deputy leader in the Lok Sabha.
Millennium Post had on November 16, 2015, reported, ‘Amarinder to be Cong face in Punjab’, which clearly indicated that Singh would be taking charge from Bajwa. The report stated: “Resolving the contentious issue of leadership in the party’s Punjab unit, the Congress high-command has finalised Amarinder’s name to head the state unit instead of Partap Singh Bajwa, the incumbent PPCC chief. Bajwa will now be shifted to the main organisation and will be working to strengthen the party.”
Speaking in Chandigarh on Friday, Singh promised to usher in a new era of hope and prosperity. “I know with the closure of industry, economy has slid down and there are no jobs. It is a matter of one more year when Punjab will be re-launched on the path of progress and glory and where everyone – whether an educated youth, a farmer, a trader, an industrialist or an employee – will feel proud, confident and happy”.
He added that people of Punjab are eagerly waiting for the 2017 polls to bring Congress back to power after a “disastrous decade” under the Akali-BJP rule, which has seen Punjab sliding on all fronts – social, political, economic, agricultural or industrial.
The change in the leadership comes ahead of the Assembly polls due in 2017.
Over the past few months, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi held a series of meetings to discuss how best to prepare for the elections. But with a running feud between Singh and Bajwa, the party’s unity was crucial for the Congress.
Earlier in November, Gandhi had visited Punjab and was accompanied by both Bajwa and Singh, who had portrayed a “united” picture of the party’s state unit.
“I came here to look into your problems, to learn about the Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege cases, to meet the people who were shot at, to unite the Congress party together (in reference to rivalry between PPCC chief Bajwa and party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Amarinder),” Gandhi had said.
According to sources, Gandhi had met the two warring sides in the party’s Punjab unit to address their issues and resolve them. Emerging powerful after defeating BJP stalwart Arun Jaitley last year in the Lok Sabha elections, Singh reinforced his position in the Congress. He managed to humble Jaitley by sweeping the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat by nearly 90,000 votes.