Captain Amarinder Singh named Punjab Congress chief

Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has taken the reigns of the state Congress following the resignation of Pratap Singh Bajwa and state CLP leader Sunil Jakhar on 26 November.

The move is “consequent to the resignation of Sardar Pratap Singh Bajwa from the presidentship” of the Punjab unit of the party, the release added.

Last week, Rahul Gandhi led a delegation of party leaders from Punjab, along with Amarinder Singh, to President Pranab Mukherjee to project unity in the state.

“Lal Singh has been appointed senior vice president and (former union minister) Ambika Soni the chairperson of the campaign committee for the 2017 Punjab assembly elections”, said a party statement released by party leader Janardan Dwivedi. “It is a sensitive task”, Amarinder said. He and Amarinder Singh indulged in a war of words in the media.

“Senior MLA Sadhu Singh Dharmsodh has been named as the vice-chairman and Ludhiana Member of Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu will be the convener”, said Ahmad, while elaborating upon the appointments.

He said that the process of disbursement of compensation was underway smoothly, adding that not even a single complaint had been received so far in this regard. “I think we should have a headstart on that and it is a question of consolidating and building on”.

The Congress is optimistic of defeating the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine which faces a 10-year anti-incumbency factor.

Asked about the issues, he said, governance is a failure in Punjab and government has totally destroyed the social and economic fabric of the state. “The debt burden is high, industries are moving outside the state, the farmers are committing suicide and drug addiction is rampant”.