Bajwa-dullo offensive: All eyes on Congress high command now

STATE PARTY CHIEF SUNIL JAKHAR HAS SENT REPORT TO CONGRESS PRESIDENT STRONGLY RECOMMENDING THEIR EXPULSION

CHANDIGARH: As Rajya Sabha MPS Partap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo continued their attacks on chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, all eyes in the Punjab Congress are now focused on the position the party high command takes on the demand from the state unit for their expulsion.

Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar and all members of the state cabinet want the two party MPS to be shown the door for “brazen indiscipline”, but there has been no word from the central leadership so far. The state Congress chief was the first to seek the expulsion of Bajwa and Dullo from the party on Tuesday, a day after the duo met the governor to demand CBI and ED probes into hooch deaths.

Jakhar said he sent his report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi the same day. “I have strongly recommended their expulsion for brazen indiscipline. It is for the party leadership to decide,” he said. The ministers also issued a joint statement on Thursday supporting the demand for the duo’s immediate expulsion. However, the central leadership is watching and has not responded to the demand so far.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Asha Kumari, who met Amarinder and Jakhar in Chandigarh on Thursday on her way to Dalhousie, said the report from the state president is awaited. “The Pradesh Congress Committee can give its complaint or recommendation. However, the decision rests with the central leadership as both (Bajwa and Dullo) are MPS and All India Congress Committee (AICC) members,” she said. Another party leader said the party has a central disciplinary action committee headed by former minister AK Antony to look into complaints of indiscipline.