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Factionalism galore in Cong meet in Ludhiana
The over two-hour-long meeting held at former MLA Ludhiana (North) Rakesh Pandey’s residence left senior Congressmen, including a former minister, speaking in divergent voices that reflected that disunity remains a bane of the party.
Factionalism within the state Congress, disjointed voices and a conspicuous absence of most defeated MLAs of Ludhiana marked the first meeting held here by former state president Navjot Sidhu post assembly polls on Tuesday.
The over two-hour-long meeting held at former MLA Ludhiana (North) Rakesh Pandey’s residence left senior Congressmen, including a former minister, speaking in divergent voices that reflected that disunity remains a bane of the party.
The meeting was attended by 36 party leaders, including some ex-MLAs, from all over Punjab led by Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Among the sitting Congress MLAs, Sukhpal Singh Khaira attended the meet which deliberated on the reasons for Congress’s humiliating defeat in the recently concluded state assembly polls.
The meeting was conspicuous by the absence of prominent Congress faces from Ludhiana, including former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who said he was not invited and that the party with Sidhu will ‘never learn’. Just two of the eight former Congress MLAs from Ludhiana district’s 14 constituencies attended the meet.
Sidhu along with a battery of party workers reached the residence of Pandey around noon.
Prominent among those who attended the meeting were former Congress MLAs from the state including Mohinder Singh Kaypee (Jalandhar), Ashwini Sekhri (Batala), Navtej Singh Cheema (Sultanpur Lodhi), Harwinder Singh Laddi (Bhathinda rural), Rupinder Kaur Ruby (Malout) among others. Besides Pandey who hosted the meet at his residence, former MLA Ludhiana (Central) Surinder Kumar Dawar attended the meeting from Ludhiana but left early.
Former cabinet minister and MLA from Ludhiana (West) constituency Bharat Bhushan Ashu, when contacted, said he was not invited for the meeting and it is disappointing. “We just got to know from some party workers that Sidhu is coming to Ludhiana and a meeting will be held where several ex-MLAs from the state will be coming. There was no communication from Chandigarh of such a meeting. Even after such a humiliating defeat, the party is not united and factions are there which is highly disappointing to say the east,” he said.
While Sidhu chose to remain silent as the media posed questions at him as he was leaving, Rakesh Pandey said it was discussed (in the meeting) that bad decisions by both Congress high command in Delhi and state Congress leadership led to the party’s defeat.
“Making Harish Chaudhery as the state incharge was a terrible decision that cost the party dear. Capt Amarinder Singh should never have been changed as the CM just three months short of polls. The campaigning by then CM Charanjit Singh Channi was a disaster as he kept applauding his ‘111 days’ of regime forgetting that the party ruled for five years. All these points were highlighted and a plan to bring improvements and the road ahead was chalked out,” said Pandey.
When questioned about the absence of former MLAs from Ludhiana where the meet was held, Pandey said everyone was invited. “If they (other MLAs) are busy and cannot come, we cannot help it, but we invited everyone,” he said.
On the other hand, sitting MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said the meeting was held to condemn the decision of the centre to apply central service rules to the employees of Chandigarh administration. “We are going all ahead against the centre for this decision. Chandigarh belongs to Punjab and it is an attack on our identity. There is no groupism and the party is united,” he said.
Khaira also said that Sidhu is still the state Congress chief as his resignation has not been accepted yet by the high command in Delhi. “It’s a party meeting and Sidhu continues to be our president,” he said.
Box
House not in order
The over two-hour-long meeting held at former MLA Ludhiana (North) Rakesh Pandey’s residence left senior Congressmen, including a former minister, speaking in divergent voices that reflected that disunity remains a bane of the party.
The meeting was attended by 36 party leaders, including some ex-MLAs, from all over Punjab led by Navjot Singh Sidhu.
