Meet the 4 working presidents
The Congress has tried to ensure caste and religion balance in the new appointments
METEORIC RISE FOR FORMER STUDENT LEADER IN POLITICS KULJIT SINGH NAGRA Age: 56 Fatehgarh Sahib MLA
From being a student union leader at Khalsa College, Chandigarh, to working president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), it is no less than meteoric rise for Kuljit Singh Nagra (56), the Fatehgarh Sahib MLA who comes from a non-political family. Considered close to the party leadership, particularly former president Rahul Gandhi, Nagra is long associated with All India Congress Committee (AICC) communication head Randeep Singh Surjewala. He remained Punjab Youth Congress general secretary from 1995 to 1997 and later general secretary of the Youth Congress besides being a senate member of Panjab University. He caught Rahul’s attention in 2007 when he spoke on the farmers’ issues.
A DALIT FACE WHO ENJOYS PROXIMITY WITH RAHUL GANDHI SUKHWINDER SINGH DANNY Age: 43 Jandiala Guru MLA
Jandiala Guru MLA Sukhwinder Singh Danny, also known as Danny Bandala, has been appointed as PPCC working president at a relatively young age of 43. The party high command preferred him for the post to woo the Dalits, its is learnt. His proximity with Rahul Gandhi is also believed to have played a role in his appointment.
Sukhwinder’s father and twotime Congress MLA Sardool Singh Bandala was a minister in the previous Congress government from 2002 to 2007. The Bandala junior was among the Youth Congress leaders who were fielded by Rahul in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections but he lost. He, however, scraped through in the 2017 assembly elections.
LOW-KEY LEADER COMES FROM FAMILY OF CONGMEN PAWAN GOEL Age: 65 From: Jaitu (Faridkot)
Goel is the only Hindu face and a non-MLA among four newly appointed working PPCC presidents. The low-key Goel (65), a resident of Jaitu in Faridkot district, comes from a family of traditional Congressmen. His father Bhagwan Dass was elected Kotkapura MLA in 1980 and served in the cabinet of chief minister Darbara Singh for two years starting 1981. Dass was assassinated by Sikh militants in 1988.
He is considered close to CM Amarinder Singh. He was general secretary of PPCC, which was dissolved in 2020. Goel also served as Faridkot Congress chief from 2006 to 2011. He never contested an assembly poll but his appointment has made him a frontrunner for Congress ticket from Kotkapura in 2022.
BC FACE FROM DOABA STARTED OUT AS A GRASSROOTS WORKER SANGAT SINGH GILZIAN Age: 68 Urmur MLA (Hoshiarpur)
Gilzian, 68, a three-time MLA from the Urmur assembly segment in Hoshiarpur district, began his political journey at the grassroots level when he was elected sarpanch of his village in the 1990s. One of the few MLAs who first joined ranks with Navjot Sidhu against chief minister Amarinder Singh, Gilzian lost his first election from Urmur in 2002. During the 2007 assembly, the Congress denied him party ticket but he chose to contest as an independent and won. He rejoined the Congress-fold in 2009. The backward class (BC) community leader has retained the Urmur assembly seat since 2007. He resigned from party posts in 2018 after he was not included in the expanded state cabinet.