No one sought change in Cong captaincy,claim Capt loyalists

Claiming that certain vested interests misled the media about what transpired during the closed door meetings,the statement said there was no demand for change in the PCC leadership. “An overwhelming number of leaders told Rahul Gandhi that Amarinder was the tallest leader in Punjab and he alone could take on the Akalis aggressively,” it said.

The Congress leaders said,they wanted to set the record straight about Rahul Gandhi’s visit,which “was to boost the morale of party rank and file”. “But it was presented as if the visit was undertaken for changing the leadership in Punjab. Rahul was here to meet party workers and get a feel of the ground situation,” they said.

They appealed the party high command to identify such leaders and take strict action against them. The signatories to the statement included Laal Singh,Jagmohan Kang,Ashwani Sekhri,Rana Sodhi,Kewal Dhillon,Rana KP,Arvind Khanna,Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu,Joginder Singh Panjgraian,Ajaib Singh Bhatti,Mohammad Sadiq,Harchan Kaur,Gurkirat Singh Kotli,Ajit Inder Singh Mofar,Sadhu Singh Dharamsot,Hardayal Singh Kambhoj,Guriqbal Kaur,Balbir Sidhu,Charanjit Singh Channi,Sunder Shyam Arora,Sant Singh Giljian,Rajneesh Babbi,Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa,Aruna Chaudhary,Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa,Sukh Sarkaria,OP Soni,Ramanjit Singh Sikki,Rana Gurjeet,Bharat Bushan Ashu,Gurcharan Singh Boparai,Surinder Dawer,Navtej Cheema and Amrik Dhillon. The list also included 21 former district Congress committee (DCC) presidents signatory to the statement.