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Congress vs Congress: War of words erupts between Bajwa, Sidhu
Bajwa, taking aim at Sidhu, has criticised the recent rally, while Sidhu has hit back, attacking the LoP and sharing the post of his aides on X (formerly Twitter)
While the Congress at the Centre is working to unite the opposition under the ‘India’ bloc, its state unit in Punjab seems to be a divided house. Once again, political tensions are escalating within the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), known for its history of internal divisions.
A fresh war of words has erupted between the leader of the opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, and former PPCC head Navjot Singh Sidhu over the latters’ recent rally in Bathinda’s Mehraj.
Bajwa, taking aim at Sidhu, has criticised the recent rally, while Sidhu has hit back, attacking the LoP and sharing the post of his aides on X (formerly Twitter).
Reacting to Sidhu’s rally, which was held bypassing the state unit or the PPCC, Bajwa questioned his intentions and accused him of taking a stand contrary to the state unit.
During the rally, Sidhu had openly advocated an alliance of all opposition parties under the ‘INDIA’ bloc, a move which is opposed by Bajwa and many Congress leaders in the state where the party is the main opposition to the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Besides attacking the AAP government in Punjab, Sidhu had also taken jibes at former Congress CMs Captain Amarinder Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi for failing to protect the interest of Punjab.
Criticising the rally, Bajwa alleged that Congress came down from 78 to 18 seats under the presidentship of Sidhu. Alleging that Sidhu was unable to digest the respect, that the party has given him, Bajwa advised Sidhu to speak from the Congress party platform.
With a ‘request’ to Sidhu not to hold parallel shows, Bajwa ‘invited’ him to the forthcoming protest rallies of the Congress state unit.
Following Bajwa’s attack, a few Congressmen who have been vocal against Sidhu jumped into the fray. Leaders like Kulbir Singh Zira, Inderbir Singh Bolaria and others hit back at Sidhu for his rally and demanded action against him.
Sidhu hits back by posting a joint statement released by former MLAs Nazar Singh Manshaiah, Kaka Rajinder Singh, Maheshinder Singh, Raminder Awla, Jagdev Singh Kamalu and others.
“Respected Bajwa Saab Ji, We Congress office bearers and workers want to ask that neither we nor Navjot Sidhu are invited to Punjab Congress functions. And if we hold a rally on the invitation of party workers for the betterment of Congress with 8,000 persons in attendance, why are we not being encouraged? We, office bearers and workers, are busy day and night for the upliftment of the Congress party. But why are we being discriminated against in the party due to our closeness to Navjot Sidhu”, the joint statement reads.
The leaders also questioned the Congress’ absence from public discourse against the AAP over the government’s failure on various issues.
Sidhu’s former advisor Malwinder Malli also targeted Bajwa, a post which was shared by the former PPCC head. In his post, Mali blamed the Bajwa and others for the defeat of Congress in the 2022 assembly elections.
“The responsibility of bringing the party tally of MLAs from 78 to 18 falls on you (Bajwa) and not on Sidhu. It’s you, who played the Dalit card by rejecting the pro-Punjab agenda of Navjot Sidhu,” Mali said. Mali further attacked Bajwa by saying, that “Navjot Sidhu has attacked policies of the government. Why are you (Bajwa) getting perturbed?”
