At Barnala rally, Rahul Gandhi sets ball rolling for changes in Punjab Congress
His interactions with top leaders closely watched, say party insiders
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday set the ball rolling for changes in the Punjab unit as he warned state leaders against factionalism in the run-up to the Assembly polls early next year, according to party insiders.
A senior party leader said after the Barnala rally, Rahul and All-India Congress Committee general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal were expected to discuss the distribution of roles among top state leaders.
Sources said senior leaders closely watched the body language of Rahul and party president Mallikarjun Kharge during their interactions with state unit chief Amrinder Raja warring, Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Partap Bajwa, former CM Charanjit Channi and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Randhawa.
Many leaders observed that a group of workers repeatedly cheered for Channi, when he stood to speak or his name was mentioned by other leaders. The scrutiny comes in the wake of the Congress brass conducting a survey in parts of Punjab to assess the popularity of Warring, Bajwa, Channi and Randhawa.
Rahul, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, admonishing top state leaders was seen as a message to party workers not to follow the leaders pursuing personal agenda. Party leaders said Rahul’s public statement that he wanted all top leaders to work as a team aimed at disciplining the faction-ridden state unit.
Reaching out to farmers
Apart from warning party leaders against indulging in factionalism, Rahul also mounted an attack on the BJP-led Centre, claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was under “pressure” to sign the India-US trade deal.
In a bid to reach out to state farmers, he alleged that the deal would destroy farmers and small businesses as they would not be able to compete highly mechanised US agribusinesses.
Cong brass has lost influence: Jakhar
Meanwhile, reacting to the Rahul’s rally, Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar said the way he was “compelled to come to Punjab” and publicly admonish his party leaders proved that the Congress high command had “lost its influence and that the state leadership had gone rogue”.
Jakhar claimed there was neither any agenda for Punjab nor any discussion about farmers or labourers.
“Instead, it was a desperate attempt by an already ineffective Congress high command, through Rahul Gandhi, to publicly humiliate and force the fragmented Punjab state leadership into unity by issuing the warning,” he added.
Jakhar said to sort out an issue which could have been resolved behind closed doors, the Congress had to organise a rally and publicly lecture its own state leaders.
“Such a situation has arisen because the Congress high command has lost its command over the party’s state units,” he said.
Desperate attempt to save Congress in Punjab: Sukhbir Badal
On the other hand, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal too said Rahul was in the state “only to quell” the dissidence in the Punjab Congress.
“He understands the party is on the verge of disintegration with all its leaders at each other’s throats. He is on a desperate mission to save the party but will never succeed as Punjabis have seen repeated Congress governments, all of which don’t have one thing to show by way of development, infrastructure projects or social welfare benefits,” he claimed.
