Amid reports of a recast in the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, party veteran and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said any changes were prerogative of party high command which is seized of ground realities in the State.
Capt. Singh, the deputy leader of party in Lok Sabha and a frontrunner for the post, said: “It is the prerogative of Congress president Sonia Gandhi (to reshuffle PPCC).”
Responding to a query if senior party leader Ambika Soni was being considered for the coveted post, he said he has apprised the party high command of his views.
“I have already clarified that I have put forth my point of view based on the ground realities and the sentiments of the common workers in Punjab to the high command, he said adding that the high command is seized of the entire matter.
Claiming that the Congress is in a strong position to defeat the Akali-BJP alliance and the Aam Aadmi Party in the State in 2017 Assembly polls, Capt. Singh said that while the former’s graph has touched its nadir, people have lost confidence in the latter’s governing capability, particularly after what happened in Delhi and Punjab.
Reportedly, Punjab Congress is set to get new teams as the party high command is likely to recast the state unit.
Present incumbent Partap Singh Bajwa has been in the firing line of his bete noire Amarinder Singh, who has put his bet on CLP leader Sunil Jakhar.
Recently, the party high command had held separate parleys with top Punjab leaders, including Capt. Singh, Mr. Bajwa and former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in its bid to put an end to bitter infighting in party’s state unit.
Earlier, addressing a public meeting at Dirba, Amarinder Singh questioned the “sources of disproportionate assets and income” of the Badal family.
“When farmers across the State are in distress and several of them are committing suicide, there is only one farmer, Badal, who has weaved thousands of crores from his 80 acres of land he inherited from his father, besides few buffaloes,” he said.
Further training guns on Punjab government, Capt. Singh said there was total administrative collapse in the State with the Chief Minister busy in Sangat Darshans and his deputy, travelling abroad at the expenses of the exchequer.
“Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has two seven star hotels in Delhi where he sells a cup of tea for more than the monthly old age and widow pension in Punjab,” he alleged adding, “and he is constructing one more hotel in Chandigarh also.”
He alleged that Sukhbir Badal prefers to spend more time abroad “sometimes Poland, sometimes Dubai, sometimes China and sometimes Korea”.
Similarly, he added, the senior Badal remains lost in Sangat Darshans.
Hitting out at the Badals, he said the farmers in Punjab were committing suicide while they were building mansions and hotels at different places.
“I urge Badal to share the secret of making so much wealth from 80 acres of land with other farmers of the State also so that they (farmers) can also earn good money and are not forced to commit suicide,” he remarked.
- PTI
