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Sidhu appoints Capt-baiter Pargat as Punjab Cong general secretary
Considered close to Sidhu, Pargat Singh, a two-time MLA, has been critical of chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for the past more than two years, raising questioning the state government’s failure to fulfil key poll promises in the 2017 assembly elections
Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday appointed Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh as PPCC general secretary, organisation.
“With the approval of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary, organisation, KC Venugopal and Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat, I hereby appoint Pargat Singh as the PPCC (Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee) general secretary, organisation, with immediate effect,” Sidhu tweeted.
Considered close to Sidhu, Pargat Singh, a two-time MLA, has been critical of chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh for the past more than two years, raising questioning the state government’s failure to fulfil key poll promises in the 2017 assembly elections.
His appointment came on a day Jagbir Brar, a senior party leader and former MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment that Pargat represents in the state assembly now, left the Congress to rejoin the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Brar has been named by the SAD as its candidate from the seat in next year’s assembly polls, which the party is contesting in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
A former India hockey captain, Pargat had won the 2012 assembly elections from Jalandhar Cantonment on a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ticket. He joined the Congress with Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur, then a BJP MLA, in November 2016 ahead of the state elections. Sidhu had also joined the party a few days later.
Last week, Sidhu, who took charge as the state Congress chief on July 23, appointed Lok Sabha member Dr Amar Singh, retired IPS officer Mohammad Mustafa, Dr Pyare Lal Garg and Malwinder Singh Mali as his advisers to seek their “wise counsel” on party affairs. While Mustafa declined the role, Mali got into a controversy for his strident comments on social media against Capt Amarinder Singh and the Hindu community with several party leaders disapproving of his statements.
