3 min readChandigarhDec 5, 2015 03:56 AM IST
First published on: Dec 5, 2015 at 03:56 AM IST
PPCC PRESIDENT Capt Amarinder Singh may have won his ‘Oust Bajwa’ battle, but he faces numerous challenges in his bid to put up a united front and steer the Congress party in the state.
With his predecessor Partap Singh Bajwa’s MLA wife Charanjit Kaur Bajwa and former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and her camp staying away from his first public appearance after the announcement — at Golden Temple in Amritsar — Amarinder’s litmus test will be whether he is able to prove that he is the “most acceptable” leader, as he had projected himself while gunning for Bajwa.
The Congress camp is also abuzz with reports that many senior leaders, including former PPCC presidents, shied away from issuing statements to the media, welcoming him as the party’s state unit president.
Although Amarinder had called Bajwa over the phone thinking his battle was half-won, it seems there is a long way to go before they bury the hatchet. Bajwa is reportedly upset with Amarinder, who often criticised him openly and kept him unsettled for almost three years. He could easily mete out the same behaviour to Amarinder, unless the party placates him and makes him shoulder an important party responsibility away from Punjab.
Amarinder’s arch political rival and former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who had mended fences with him ahead of the Youth Congress elections hoping he would support her son, was left disappointed with Amarinder supporting the candidate of another senior leader — Ambika Soni.
Although she had said she accepted the party’s decision to put Amarinder back in the saddle, she is learnt to be sulking as he did not even call her once. Bhattal, as well as Ludhiana MLA Rakesh Pandey, did not show up at Amritsar.
She justified her absence by saying, “It was his private function. I got a message from his team member late Tuesday. I was then off to my constituency. I told them I would not be able to be there. We will go for the party’s function at the Bathinda rally.”
Amarinder’s relationship with his deputy, senior vice president of PPCC, Lal Singh, too, has been uneasy in the recent past, since Amarinder vetoed a proposal of the high command to name Lal Singh PPCC president. Considered a ‘wise man’ of the state Congress, Lal Singh will also be someone who Amarinder may need to keep a watch on.
Setting up of a campaign committee ahead of the 2017 polls, with Ambika Soni and Ravneet Singh Bittu on board, too, means constant scrutiny on Amarinder.
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