The rift within the district Congress unit, which was deepened after the removal of Pawan Dewan from the post of district Congress Committee (DCC) chief followed by the appointment of Gurpreet Singh Gogi, further increased the differences between the warring factions after member of Parliament (MP) Manish Tewari visited the city on Saturday.
Pawan Dewan is a close associate of Manish Tewari while Gurpreet Gogi was handpicked by Punjab Congress Committee (PCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa and MP Ravneet Singh Bittu.
Tewari on Saturday inaugurated a tubewell in the constituency of MLA Rakesh Pandey and the ward of Congress councillor Parminder Mehta. He also inaugurated a specially built room at a school to which he had given a grant from his MPLAD fund during his tenure as Ludhiana MP.
But what has created a furore in the opposite camp of Congressmen was the lunch meeting of the former MP with ex-block presidents who were ousted from the party along with Pawan Dewan and Gursimran Singh Mand, secretary, All-India Jat Mahasabha, Punjab.
Those who attended the meeting at Gurmail Pehalwan’s, another close associate of Tewari, residence include Baljinder Singh Bunty, Satwinder Singh Jawaddi and Vinod Bathala, Palwinder Taggar.
The opposite camp has MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, DCC president Gurpreet Singh Gogi and MP Ravneet Singh Bittu at the forefront.
Tewari also visited the ailing father of Mand, who is admitted at a local hospital. Mand is another loyalist of Tewari who was shown the door by PPCC president for having staged a protest against him during his recent visit to Ludhiana.
The opposite camp has MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, DCC president Gurpreet Singh Gogi and MP Ravneet Singh Bittu at the forefront.
Tewari also visited the ailing father of Mand, who is admitted at a local hospital. Mand is another loyalist of Tewari who was shown the door by PPCC president for having staged a protest against him during his recent visit to Ludhiana.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ashu and Tewari have no love lost between them.
Ashu and his supporters having extended unequivocal support to Bittu have managed to isolate them from the supporters of Tewari, thereby, widening the fissure between the two factions.
In order to get back at Bajwa for dethroning him unceremoniously, Dewan left no stone unturned as he did not miss any chance to invite Tewari on various functions and occasions in the city.