A week after the unexpected poll debacle in Punjab, voices are growing within the state Congress for a change of leadership.
Punjab Pradesh Congress president Capt. Amarinder Singh, who turned 70 on Sunday, was expected to be the next chief minister by many in the state. Bureaucrats were knocking his doors for favourable postings and politicians for a share of power. But things are not the same for Capt. Singh after being blamed for the poll debacle in Punjab by many in the party. First to attack Capt. Singh was former MP Virender Kataria. He was of the opinion that the entire state Congress should apprise Congress president Sonia Gandhi and not just the PCC president over a defeat report.
Many in the state Congress are blaming Capt. Singh’s style of working for the defeat. Senior state Congress leader and Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa is turning out be the harbinger of the voices demanding new leadership for the state Congress. Mr Bajwa has maintained that it is the rebel factor in the Congress which was not handled properly by the state Congress leadership. He said that there was not enough effort to placate leaders who were denied tickets, which later affected the party. Mr Bajwa, who is considered the seniormost face amongst the second-rung leaders of the state Congress, denied being in the race for the PCC president’s position. He said that the Akali leadership is in the hands of young leader Sukhbir Badal, so the Congress also needs younger leaders, both within as well outside the Assembly, to fight the Akalis at the grassroots level.