Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, as state Congress chief, has a task which he may not be up to. The points raised by Sunil Jakhar as he left are testament to that.

New Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring at the Punjab Congress Bhavan. Photo: Twitter/@RajaBrar_INC

Chandigarh: Weeks after its humiliating defeat in the Punjab assembly elections, Congress appointed a young leader, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring as state Congress chief. Warring is a close aide to Rahul Gandhi.

The party claimed that the three-time MLA from Muktsar’s Gidderbaha – who incidentally only barely managed to retain his seat in the recent assembly polls – would infuse the party with fresh energy.

At the time of his coronation on April 22, he promised to follow a ‘three-D’ formula of ‘dedication, dialogue and discipline’ to revive the party.

However, Warring’s appointment, it appears, has failed to end the impasse in the faction-ridden Punjab Congress, if the exit of senior party leader Sunil Jakhar on May 15 conveys anything.

Intense infighting is believed to have been the most important reason behind the party’s inability to retain power in Punjab. This also allowed the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party, which snatched Punjab from Congress, much like it had in Delhi, with a record margin.

AAP is now showcasing Punjab to sway voters in other poll bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh where Congress is deemed to be a major challenger to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

At a time when Congress’s Punjab unit needed to unite in order to minimise, if not to stop, AAP’s emerging influence in other states, the ghosts of the past are still haunting the party, with no visible change in its ‘dasha’ – circumstances – and ‘disha’ – direction – despite election defeat.

‘Neither dialogue nor discipline so far’ 

Jakhar enjoyed respect and reputation in the party as a sensible politician. His exit, which was triggered by the party’s show-cause notice against him, could have been avoidable if the party had engaged with him timely.

His ‘crime’ was that he blamed former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, in addition to the caste and religious inclinations of senior leaders like Ambika Soni for the party’s defeat in Punjab.

In run-up to the Punjab election, Jakhar also dragged Soni for ruining his chances as Punjab chief minister – a position that fell vacant after Captain Amarinder Singh was made to leave his chair last September on the issue of non-performance.

A dark horse, Channi was handed over the state baton.

But Jakhar’s ‘crime’, as he himself acknowledged in his Saturday Facebook address, did not turn out to be that detrimental to the party in comparison to what Sachin Pilot did in Rajasthan or Ambika Soni and Navjot Singh Sidhu did in Punjab.

Jakhar said the party is still entertaining Pilot even though he had almost demolished the Ashok Gehlot government.

Also read: In Parting Speech, Sunil Jakhar Tears into Gandhis’ Coterie

He also touched on how Soni took away the Hindu vote bank from Congress by publicly saying that a Hindu cannot become Punjab chief minister.

Jakhar also said the Sidhu-Channi infighting in the last leg of the Congress’s time in government was also among key factors for the party’s loss in Punjab, for which, too, there was no disciplinary action.

Jakhar also added no one had cared to discuss the failure of Congress’s plan to bank on Channi’s credentials as a Dalit leader.

Jakhar also hit out at Rahul Gandhi’s appointed AICC Punjab in-charges including Harish Rawat, who, Jakhar said, de-established the Congress government barely months before elections.

A section of party leaders firmly believe that if Captain Amarinder Singh was not working well as Punjab chief minister, he needed to be replaced much earlier, not when the Punjab election was just four months away, for which no accountability has been fixed so far.

Meanwhile, Sidhu, who left no stone unturned to embarrass the Congress government after Channi was made chief minister, continues to strike at the party.

In the initial weeks after Bhagwant Mann of AAP took over as Punjab’s 17th chief minister on March 16, Sidhu was Mann’s biggest opponent.

Later he became less critical of Mann, even calling him an “honest chief minister” after holding a closed-door meeting him recently.

Sidhu’s ‘hot-soft’ attitude has affected the Congress’s opposition to the two-month old Mann government despite several issues, including its failure to control law and order, apart from stopping farmers’ suicides and deaths due to drug overdose.

He has also galvanised former MLAs of the party and has been organising his own programme independently.

Situation as complex as before

Although Warring’s elevation in Punjab Congress was met with optimism, he has failed to bring cohesiveness so far.

Many believe Warring’s elevation was little more than a ploy to bring in young leaders to pave the way for Rahul Gandhi’s return as national president later this year, rather than addressing the core issue of the party’s failure.

Congress’s focus for quite some time has been to save the Gandhis’ position within the party even at the cost of ignoring organisational issues in different states.

This has been happening in Punjab even though it is the Gandhis who are blamed for the untimely decision on Captain Amarinder Singh’s replacement and even staying silent on Sidhu’s conduct.

It remains to be seen if the just concluded brainstorming session in Rajasthan’s Udaipur brings a mindset change in the party or if it remains as divided as earlier.