After Lapang, it’s Amarinder

Meanwhile, supporters of Punjab dissident Jagmeet Singh Brar thronged the AICC office to petition central leaders against the CM. In a letter addressed to Sonia, the workers, who claimed to have arrived from different parts of Punjab, said: ‘‘About half-a-dozen senior bureaucrats and some highly corrupt ministers have laundered money like anything and ruined the party’s image.’’

The petition said: ‘‘We strongly believe the Congress party will find it very hard to win the ensuing elections under the leadership of Amarinder Singh. A new leader with a clean image will still be able to steer the party out of troubled waters.’’

The developments in Punjab come barely a day after the party served a show-cause notice to Haryana MP Kuldeep Bishnoi for publicly criticising Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda over a land deal. While Bishnoi ignored the notice and persisted with his criticim of the CM, Brar too is doing the same — he too was asked to shut up a fortnight ago and some of his supporters suspended from the party.

In Meghalaya, Punjab and Haryana the troublemakers are those who feel denied their share of the booty of power. Brar and Bishnoi are using land allottment for mega projects to Reliance to get back at their respective CMs.

They say the CMs have compromised the interests of farmers in the favour of industry. While Bishnoi is the son of Bhajan Lal, who was a CM aspirant, Brar wants the top seat for himself. The minumum they want to settle for is a say in these lucrative projects. In Meghalaya, the trouble started after the Cabinet was downsized in March 2005. People who were dropped are now asking for the CM’s scalp. If the Congress replaces Lapang, a clamour for leadership change will begin in the other states, especially Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.