Former Punjab Chief Minister and deputy leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Captain Amarinder Singh, has clearly run out of patience. For nearly three years he had been demanding the removal of Partap Singh Bajwa as the Punjab Congress chief. He was also said to have been assured that this step would be taken, but the long delay in naming the new state Congress president has apparently taken its toll.
Although Amarinder Singh has been throwing enough hints of his disenchantment with the way the party leadership was delaying a decision, he has now broken his restraint by stating that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi needed a reality check and that nobody in the party high command was taking Punjab seriously. He not only criticised the party’s stance during the monsoon session, when it stalled parliamentary proceedings, but did not rule out the possibility of looking at options other than remaining in the Congress for the 2017 assembly elections.
In one of his strongest attacks on the Congress leadership yet, Singh made no attempt to hide his disillusionment at the party’s functioning. He directed his anger more at Rahul who is believed to have stalled the process of change in Punjab even as he kept a window open with Sonia Gandhi. While expressing “total admiration” for her, Singh said reality hasn’t yet sunk in for Rahul. “Going somewhere and sitting and eating food in a Dalit house is not a solution, that’s just dramatics,” he said.
Giant Killer
Singh is undoubtedly the tallest Congress leader in Punjab. He defeated Arun Jaitley in Amritsar which is not his home constituency and that too in the face of a Modi wave. He has been touring the state over the last couple of years and addressing scores of well attended rallies. He claims support of at least 35 of 43 Congress MLAs and has been defying a party diktat to attend rallies and meetings organised by Bajwa.
Singh’s supporters have already been voicing the need to form a new regional outfit. A couple of his loyalist MLAs have even gone on record to say they are willing to throw in their lot should Singh form a new party. While Singh has remained silent for some time, his claim that he may think of “other options” has queered the pitch.
Switching parties and forming his own outfit is not new for the former chief minister. He quit the Congress in 1984 and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal in the wake of Operation Bluestar. Subsequently, he left the SAD and formed his own party which did not do well at the elections. He later rejoined the Congress.
Bajwa Hits Back
His diatribe against the party, specifically directed against Rahul, appears to have resurrected Bajwa who had almost given up hopes of continuing as the state party chief. In his strongly worded reaction Bajwa has said that Singh had already made up his mind to quit the Congress. He went to the extent of giving a date for the announcement of the new party and its name. Finding a good opportunity to hit out at his bete noire, Bajwa said he might even join hands with the BJP after the Bihar elections.
While Singh had been demanding Bajwa’s replacement with his loyalist Sunil Jakhar, the current leader of the party in the assembly, indications were that Rahul was backing the candidature of former Union Minister Ambika Soni. Singh, who at 73 is perceiving the forthcoming polls as perhaps his last chance to become CM again, considers Soni a rival in the event of the Congress wresting power.
Challenge Ahead
The Congress is viewing the Punjab polls as an opportunity to return to power with little hope of any success in Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh which are lined up for elections ahead of Punjab. Most Congress leaders believe that Singh is undoubtedly the best bet for the party. With the SAD-BJP coalition facing anti-incumbency after a 10-year rule, the Congress stands a good chance of a comeback. However, it is likely to face a tough challenge from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which is getting good response from the masses despite a vertical split after two of its four MPs rebelled recently.
The obvious reason for the Congress high command to be wary of the demand for a change in state party leadership was that it would open a Pandora’s box with fears of similar demands in states. In neighbouring Haryana, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is in a stand-off with party chief Ashok Tanwar who has Rahul’s backing.
While Singh has dared party leaders in the past, his latest diatribe may prove to be the last straw. Many in the party and outside believe that he may have burnt bridges with the Congress with his scathing criticism of the heir apparent.
(The writer is Chandigarh-based senior journalist)
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