Infighting continues as tussle in Punjab Congress over key posts

CHANDIGARH:  Factionalism and infighting in the Punjab Congress continues even after the loss in the Assembly polls as leaders vie for the posts of Leader of Opposition and the party's state unit president. The bickering has in fact, got ugly, with some leaders using cuss words to criticise each other, throwing all decorum to winds.

Without taking the name of former Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu called him a 'misguided missile' which destroyed own house, squarely blaming the mercurial cricketer-turned-politician for the party's downfall in Punjab. 

Though he did not take names, Bittu left no ambiguity about who he was referring to when he said the high command and leaders in general trusted the people who they thought would take the party to newer heights due to their "so-called" charisma. But what happened was totally in contrast and the "lions of the party were defeated by jackals" because of the follies of party's own leaders.

Sources said former Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa, who won the Assembly elections from Qadian, former deputy CM-cum-home minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who was re-elected from Dera Babar Nanak, and former transport minister Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, MLA from Gidderbaha, are in the race to become the next Punjab Congress president or Leader of Opposition.

A group of 25 Congress leaders headed by Sidhu had recently met at the house of former MLA Navjeet Singh Cheema at Sultanpur Lodhi in an attempt to propel Khaira’s candidature for LoP.

Bajwa targeted Sidhu without taking his name and said that in a race, if Arabic horses are not allowed to participate and desi horses participate, the result will be a disaster. Sidhu, on the other hand, quoted a Hindi saying that even a dead elephant remains quite valuable.