We will give our views on how to make party strong in the state,says Bhattal After seeking views of sitting district and block presidents on first day of his Punjab tour,Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will meet the old guard in Chandigarh on Thursday. Rahul is in stock-taking mode and has called a meeting of former state and district presidents at Congress Bhawan to look into reasons for the Assembly poll defeat. In terms of numbers,odds are against state Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh. Among the nine former presidents,many are Amarinders detractors,including Rajinder Kaur Bhattal,Mohinder Singh Kaypee,Varinder Kataria,Shamsher Singh Dullo,R L Bhatia and H S Hanspal. Union Minister Ambika Soni,considered close to Amarinder,is also likely to be present along with his other confidant Laal Singh also a contender as a non-Jat Sikh leader. As is evident from Rahuls interaction in Amritsar on Wednesday where he heard out block presidents,describing them as grasssroot leaders,the meeting with former state and district presidents is being seen as a move to elicit views of the old guard before taking a final call on change of leadership in the state. Bhattal,when contacted,said they have not discussed among themselves but all former presidents are likely to raise the pitch to strengthen the party. We will give our views on how to make the party strong in the state, she said. Notably,Rahul has been meeting Congress MLAs and MPs in New Delhi before his visit to Punjab. A delegation of four former and present MLAs had called upon him on Tuesday,each citing his own reason for defeat and what needs to be done. We told him that the party cadre is demoralised. The Rahul we met this time was very different than the one we met earlier after the poll verdict. He thinks the present set up is equally to blame and promised to bring in change, a senior leader said. Amarinder and Congress Legislative Party leader Sunil Jakhar are also likely to be present at Thursdays meeting. Lawrence row reaches Rahul Jalandhar: Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal donating Rs 1 crore to his alma mater,Lawrence School in Himachal Pradeshs Sanawar,has reached Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. An advocate and co-chairman of PPCC Legal Cell,Jaiveer Shergill,has to Rahul demanding his intervention in the matter. While pointing out that with infrastructure in most of the government schools in the state was in shambles,Shergill said: The aim of the Congress should be ensure that the state schools are at par with the Sanawar school. So that in future,each of these schools would attract the attention of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. We urge you to take up the issue with the HRD ministry.
