Induction of SAD councillors in Cong raises eyebrows

JALANDHAR: A game plan of the senior Congress leaders, including Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh, former minister Mahinder Singh Kaypee and former MLA Kanwaljit Lally to induct two newly-elected SAD-supported councillors of Bhogpur has badly annoyed the youth leadership and the cadre in the area.

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 19

A game plan of the senior Congress leaders, including Jalandhar MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh, former minister Mahinder Singh Kaypee and former MLA Kanwaljit Lally to induct two newly-elected SAD-supported councillors of Bhogpur has badly annoyed the youth leadership and the cadre in the area.

A function was held at Congress Bhawan, where three-time Bhogpur municipal committee president Raj Kumar Raja and his nephew Manish Kumar were inducted in the party. The twosome has been with the SAD for three terms. It was announced that four councillors had been taken in but insiders themselves revealed that Jaspal and Santosh were already with the party.

Elections to the municipal committee were held without party symbols as the Congress leaders did not reportedly arrange for their authority letters at the last moment.

Kaypee, who had contested from Adampur Assembly segment in which Bhogpur falls, did not even reportedly campaign for the elections.

Two groups had fought with each other, one supported by the local Congress cadre with ‘bat’ as symbol and the other by Raja with SAD support with ‘table’ as symbol. After the poll results, the ‘bat’ group that won on seven seats (and thus got majority) reportedly approached the senior party leaders and told them that they had won seven councillors and any of them could be picked for the president’s post.

The youth leaders of the area, who had worked for the polls, reportedly kept waiting for the response but the leaders perhaps had something else on their mind. The January 8 polls fixed earlier, too, were put off for the same reason. Raja, who despite being SAD leader, had reportedly helped Santokh Singh in Lok Sabha elections.

He reportedly also was nurturing some differences with SAD MLA Pawan Tinu. The Jalandhar MP now wants to pay him back and make him president again.

While the Congress leaders today seemed triumphant and claimed that with Raja on their side, they now had about 10 seats in their hand, SAD leader Monty Sehgal rather terms it as a hasty step by the Congress leadership.