Congress working on giving Hindu leaders due representation in Punjab

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, February 14

On the sidelines of the AICC-appointed screening committee meetings to shortlist the potential candidates for the 13 parliamentary seats, the Congress is working on giving due representation to the Hindu leadership.

A senior party leader confirmed that deliberations were being held to zero in on the potential faces, especially in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala and Bathinda.

The issue has been raised by PPCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and CLP Leader Partap Singh Bajwa before the screening committee members during the last meeting held on Monday. Senior Hindu leaders include Brahm Mohindra, Rana KP Singh, Manish Tewari, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, OP Soni, Vijay Inder Singla, besides others.

With the BJP trying to make inroads into the urban Hindu vote bank in Punjab cities, buoyed by its success in recently held assembly polls in the Hindi-belt states and the impact of Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, the Congress is getting anxious on this aspect. Warring said due representation would be given to all castes. The issue of Hindu leadership not being given due representation had resulted in unsavoury controversy in 2021 when Charanjit Channi was made the CM after Sunil Jakhar’s name had cropped up.

The leaders pointed out that representation of Hindu faces had gone down over the years. Examples of Sangrur, Patiala and Bathinda were cited to show that Hindu dominated seats were given to Jats.