Political stability in Batala with Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa back in reckoning

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Batala, September 28

The political volatility prevalent in this Assembly seat earlier has now been replaced by stability and firmness following which officials are breathing easier. The emergence of different power centres at different times in the past four and a half years had forced officials to change loyalties with the changing times.

Now, with Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa back at the helm, a certain permanence has emerged with senior officers claiming that they need “political stability” if they have to move ahead with developmental works.

Tript Bajwa remained a key player in the Capt Amarinder Singh dispensation. He carried out unprecedented developmental works. His hand was visible in almost all postings and transfers. However, when he rebelled about four months ago, Captain Amarinder pulled the rug from under his feet by replacing him as the main power centre with three-time ex-MLA Ashwani Sekhri.

Sekhri was given unbridled powers and officers remained at his beck and call. For good measure, he was also appointed the chairman of an important government entity. With the ex-CM at his back, he even started inaugurating government schemes, including an e-clinic at the Civil Hospital. He was the most-visible Hindu face of the Congress.

In the meantime, Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa announced that he would contest the polls from Batala. Accompanied by senior officers, he even embarked on a three-day tour of the constituency just to make a political statement. “When Captain Amarinder saw Sekhri getting all powerful, he set up Partap as a rival power centre. Officials were forced to follow two commanders. Partap even had the impudence to sack Tript loyalists as the chiefs of the Improvement Trust and Market Committee. He became the latest player in this game of musical chairs,” said an MLA.

Loyal officers of Tript Bajwa, including an SSP and DSP, too were shifted. Politically redeemed, Tript Bajwa now has rivals on the mat. The real consolation is that bureaucrats, knowing they have just a single chain of command to follow, have finally heaved a sigh of relief.

“Political equilibrium has finally been restored,” said an MLA. Tript Bajwa has brought back his men as the chiefs of the Improvement Trust and Market Committee even as several other transfers and postings are in the pipeline.