The AICC on Saturday announced a jumbo Pradesh Congress Committee for poll-bound Punjab consisting of 36 vice presidents, 96 general secretaries and a 68-member executive committee.
The committee is seen as an all-please exercise given the fact that the Assembly elections is less than a year away amid a stiff challenge from AAP on the one side and ruling Akali-BJP combine on the other.
Approved by Sonia
The committee was announced by AICC general secretary Shakeel Ahmad after Congress president Sonia Gandhi approved it. The announcement was delayed as PCC chief Amarinder Singh had gone abroad and has just returned.
Former CLP leader Sunil Jakhar has been made the chief spokesperson as also the party’s vice president.
Manpreet Badal made vice-president
Manpreet Badal, the estranged nephew of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who merged his party PPP with Congress when he joined a few months ago, has also been made the vice- president.
Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans, also a Dalit, who had joined Congress after quitting the Akali Dal and was being considered for a Rajya Sabha berth, has also been made the vice-president, along with a host of senior Congress leaders.
The middle-rung party leadership has been accommodated among the general secretaries and the younger ones in the executive committee.
A list of 26 DCC presidents has also been announced, while Kamaljit Singh Dhillon has been made the treasurer.
Amarinder Singh has already been made the PCC chief replacing Pratap Singh Bajwa and has also been declared the face of the party in the polls.
Congress is out of power in the crucial border state for the last 10 years and is striving to come back to power.
“Selective process adopted in issuing of ration cards”
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress Chief Amarinder Singh on Saturday alleged a “selective and discriminatory” process was adopted in issuing ‘blue (rations) cards’ to people for subsidised food under the National Food Security Act.
He said the blue cards must be issued without any discrimination to all deserving people living below poverty line and not on the basis of the colour of their turban.
Mr Singh also issued a stern warning to all the officials involved in the process that they can flout the rules at their own risk.
“Be fair and just in issuing the blue cards and if7ou do it merely at the behest of Akalis, let me make it clear to you that you will have to account for it within less than a year,” he warned, adding, “the process should be simple and accessible to all the deserving”.
In a statement issued here, the former Chief Minister claimed that the SAD-BJP government had asked all the deputy commissioners to allow registration of 2,000 blue ration cards for each Assembly constituency, as recommended by the ‘halqa incharge’ or the concerned MLA of the ruling alliance. - PTI
