Partap Bajwa, wife skip Gurdaspur rally by Amarinder, Jakhar : The Tribune India

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Partap Bajwa, wife skip Gurdaspur rally by Amarinder, Jakhar

NEW DELHI: Factional divisions continue to haunt the Congress in Punjab with former Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa skipping the crucial first party rally in Gurdaspur ahead of the Lok Sabha bypoll on October 11.

Partap Bajwa, wife skip Gurdaspur rally by Amarinder, Jakhar

Partap Singh Bajwa. Tribune file



Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 22


Factional divisions continue to haunt the Congress in Punjab with former Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa skipping the crucial first party rally in Gurdaspur ahead of the Lok Sabha bypoll on October 11.

Bajwa and his wife Charanjit Kaur, former MLA from Qadian, are in Delhi after Congress president Sonia Gandhi approved the candidature of state unit chief Sunil Jakhar for the Gurdaspur seat vacated due to death of BJP MP Vinod Khanna.

The Bajwas are expected to meet Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi after he returns from his US trip on Saturday evening.

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Bajwa was seeking a ticket for his wife but is said to have been told to step back in favour of Congress winnability.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is backing Jakhar and will hold the first rally for him in Gurdaspur on Friday.

Bajwa, meanwhile, is said to have been placated with offer of some important executive posting for his family but it’s not clear if the promise will be kept.

Disgruntled by the denial of Gurdaspur ticket, the Bajwas are also expected to weigh their options before appearing alongside Amarinder and Jakhar in future rallies.

Bajwa, a former MP from Gurdaspur, is close to Rahul Gandhi and was given the Rajya Sabha entry from Punjab at a time when Jakhar had been denied one.

Now with the party accommodating Jakhar with the Gurdaspur nomination, Bajwa feels sidelined because his wife Charanjit had to sacrifice her Qadia assembly seat for her brother-in-law Fateh Jung who won in the recent state poll.

The party feels giving too many tickets to one family will send a signal of nepotism which will go against its prospects electorally.

But the Bajwas are contending that theirs was not the only family asking for tickets--Amarinder’s family has had its chances in the past; late Punjab CM Beant Singh’s family members continue to be in politics (Ravneet Bittu is MP and Gurkirat Singh is MLA) and so have people from the family of MP Santokh Choudhry. His son Vikramjit was given an MLA ticket while he was himself an MP.

The Congress, however, argues that vacating the Qadian seat by Charanjit in favour of her brother-in-law was a family matter and was by the family’s own understanding.

“How can three people from one family be given tickets?” a Congress leader asks.

The Punjab Congress, meanwhile, is waiting and watching the next move of Bajwas who are still in Delhi.

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