While predicting the party was all set to return to power in the 2017 Assembly elections, Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmed on Tuesday ruled out any immediate replacement of the president of the State unit or the leader of the legislature party.
Mr Ahmed, who is also in charge of party affairs in Punjab, was talking to reporters at the State party headquarters where the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee met for the first time after recent Lok Sabha elections. The party managed to win just three of the 13 seats. He said though it was not reflected in the number of seats, the performance of the party in Punjab was among the best across the country.
The party would begin a series of protest programmes by organising sit-ins at all the district headquarters on July 23 against failure of the State government on all fronts.
He said contrary to tall claims of making the State power surplus, all sections including industry, agriculture and domestic were reeling under the impact of unscheduled and long power cuts.
While steps were being taken to galvanise its rank and file, the Congress would mobilise people who were suffering at the hands of the Parkash Singh Badal government, he said
Addressing the meeting, AICC secretary Harish Chaudhary said the anti-drugs campaign by the State police was a sham while law and order machinery in general had totally collapsed, a party release said.
