No end to Punjab Cong squabble

Despite AICC in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat’s statement after discussing the “crisis” in the Punjab unit of the Congress with Rahul Gandhi on Saturday that there is no tussle in the state unit, the squabble continues unabated.

In a tweet over state party President Navjot Singh Sidhu’s comments yesterday in Amritsar, party MP from Sri Anandpur Saheb Manish Tewari, also member of the G23 group, literally lambasted the high command for failing to take notice of the controversial remarks.

Twenty-three senior Congress leaders had in 2020 sought an organisational overhaul of the party. The move had raised a storm that continues to rage. Many Sonia loyalists had then termed the group as “traitors”. They are referred to as G23.

Tewari used an Urdu couplet by Akbar Allahabadi “Hum aah bhi bhartey hain toh ho jaatey hain badnaam, woh katl bhi kartey hai to charcha nahi hoti ( I do suffer slander when I merely sigh, he gets away murder)” to get his message across to the high command to take action against Sidhu.

“I have told the high command that if you do not let me take decisions, I will not spare anyone (enth se enth baja dunga)...I do not want to be a showhorse. Decisions are required to be taken... If I have to put my life on the line, I will not back down,” Sidhu had remarked while addressing industrialists.

In July, before Sidhu was appointed Punjab Congress president, Tiwari had posted a reminder to the high command stating “Punjab is both progressive and secular”, referring to the need for a nonJat chief at the helm.

Tewari posted the demographic details of Punjab’s dominant communities, seeking to urge the top leadership to keep the non-Jat Sikh class in mind when effecting a change in an election year. Sidhu belongs to the Jat community. Amarinder, too, is Jat. Dalits

Ex-CM Vasundhara too on a ‘trailblaze’