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Journalism of Courage
Speaking in Amritsar on Sunday, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Navjot Singh Sidhu said, “Nobody can defeat the Congress. Only the Congress can defeat itself.”
He was responding to a question on factionalism and infighting in Congress that is in the midst of a crucial Assembly election.
In all three regions of Punjab — Majha, Doaba and Malwa — candidates of the party have been at each other’s throats and in some cases, levelling serious allegations against each other.
In 2017, Sidhu, then a new entrant in the Congress, had managed to effect a swing in favour of his party not only in Amritsar East, where he was the candidate, but also other seats in Amritsar city. But the tables have since turned. Sidhu is no longer a uniting force for the Congress in the region.
Deputy CM Om Prakash Soni, contesting from Amritsar Central, and Cabinet minister Raj Kumar Verka, contesting from Amritsar West, are not on the best of terms with Sidhu. Though Sidhu actively campaigned for him in 2017, Amritsar North MLA Sunil Dutti also does not enjoy good relations with Sidhu.
It’s this open factionalism that Bikram Singh Majithia, the Shiromani Akali Dal candidate against Sidhu in Amritsar East, will hope to cash in on.
Amritsar MP Gurjit Aujla also shares frosty ties with Sidhu.
In Batala seat, Sidhu managed to get a ticket for Ashwini Kumar, but that only set off more infighting in the Congress. Cabinet minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa called a gathering at his house where speakers openly asked the Congress high command to give the ticket to Tripat Rajinder Bajwa, the party’s reluctant Fatehgarh Churian candidate, or his son.
Meanwhile, Khadoor Sahib Congress MP Jasbir Singh Dimpa is opposed to at least two party candidates, Ramanjeet Singh Sikki from Khadoor Sahib and Santokh Singh Bhalaipur from Baba Bakala. Dimpa has decided to field his brother and former SSP, Harpinder Singh, from Khadoor Sahib as an Independent.
Four Congress legislators — Sultanpur Lodhi’s Navtej Singh Cheema, Jalandhar North’s Bawa Henry, Phagwara’s Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal and Bholath’s Sukhpal Singh Khaira — had approached Sonia Gandhi, asking for the ticket of minister Gurjit Rana to be cancelled from Kapurthala. While their request hasn’t been granted, an angry Rana is getting his son Rana Inder Partap Singh to contest against Navtej Cheema from Sultanpur Lodhi.
One of the biggest embarrassments for the Congress in this region is Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi’s brother Manohar Singh filing his nomination as an Independent against sitting Congress MLA Gurpreet Singh GP in Bassi Pathana.
There has been more mudslinging. The party’s Bathinda Rural candidate Harvinder Laddi held a press conference in Chandigarh to level allegations of drug smuggling against a powerful Congress minister. Despite levelling such serious allegations, Laddi managed to get a ticket.
