Salvo against Capt: Gurdaspur ticket denial still riles Bajwa

Rajya Sabha member and former Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa’ s latest salvo against the Captain Amarinder Singh government seems to be a new episode in the old political rivalry between the duo.

In an interview to a news channel, Bajwa had on Wednesday said he had sent his resignation to party vice- president Rahul Gandhi as “he cannot backtrack from his promise made to people before polls to jail former Akali ministers involved in various scams”.

According to a party insider, Bajwa has upped the ante against the Captain ahead of the November 6 party meeting as he is still upset over denial of ticket to his wife Charanjeet Kaur from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha bypoll. The high command had ignored his suggestion to pick state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar as its nominee who later won with a record margin.

Bajwa, who had initially stayed away from Jakhar’s campaign, feels that his home turf — Guradaspur — has been encroached, says a Congress leader. “I was promised a ticket for my wife and later denied, but I have no axe to grind with anybody. I will continue to raise people’s voice as I am into active politician and not going to retire,” Bajwa told HT on Thursday.

“I have asked Rahul to clear the air on promises made to the people of Punjab before the polls and offered to resign also,” Bajwa added. Party insiders call it a case of political upmanship. By raising the issue of action against former Akali ministers which Congress MLAs also talk in a hush- hush tone, Bajwa wants to stay relevant, they opine. A former PPCC president described Bajwa’s salvo against Captain as “frustration.”

Bajwa’s fight with Amarinder is not new. As PPCC president (from 2013-2105), Bajwa sought Amarinder’s expulsion from the party, alleging that he was planning to form a separate party in tacit understanding with the BJP. Then, Amarinder called him“in competent and a failure ”, and finally upstaged him to become the PPCC president.

Bajwa said: “I have nothing against the Punjab CM, we all contributed for him to be here.’