Chandigarh: In Punjab, the state unit of the Congress has expressed its sturdy objection earlier than the excessive command to the social gathering aligning with the Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP) on the nationwide stage.
Chief of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa Monday met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and social gathering President Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi to place ahead the view of the state unit.
“I unequivocally conveyed sentiments of the INC’s senior management within the state and cadre’s (sic) relating to the just lately fashioned alliance on the Nationwide stage and the trickle down impact of that association on the social gathering in Punjab. I used to be assured by the apex management that the pursuits of the Occasion in Punjab can be fully protected and gained’t be allowed to be jeopardised underneath any circumstances in anyway,” Bajwa tweeted.
Had a fruitful and productive assembly with Chairperson Congress Parliamentary Occasion Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji and INC president Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji at Parliament Home as we speak morning.
I briefed them in regards to the devastation attributable to the floods in Punjab and political scenario…
— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) July 24, 2023
Speaking to ThePrint Tuesday, Bajwa stated any alliance with the AAP, which is in energy in Punjab, can be detrimental to the Congress within the state.
“Any form of bonding with the AAP, even on the nationwide stage, may have a detrimental trickle-down impact on the state unit and we’ll lose our area as an opposition social gathering. Different gamers will instantly occupy that area and develop as the principle opposition events to the ruling social gathering within the state. This, I imagine, may have a really demoralising impression on our cadres down the road,” he stated.
Final week, 26 opposition events had introduced the creation of the “INDIA” alliance to counter the ruling BJP within the Lok Sabha elections subsequent 12 months. The alliance included, amongst different events, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
In line with Bajwa, he has been attempting to boost consciousness among the many folks of Punjab in regards to the AAP and BJP being allegedly in cahoots with one another. “That has been my stand and it’ll proceed to stay so,” stated Bajwa.
“AAP’s leaders are to not be trusted. They’re the BJP’s B group. In the event you discover, they’ve supported the BJP in all key points, whether or not it was the abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir or the Citizenship (Modification) Act. Now, even for the Uniform Civil Code, the primary voice of help to the BJP has come from AAP chief Sandeep Pathak,” he added.
Bajwa additionally talked in regards to the Congress within the state “strongly opposing” Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over not having fulfilled ballot guarantees made earlier than the elections.
“The law-and-order scenario within the state is in tatters. The state is in big debt…. whether or not it was the ending of the sand mafia, corruption or medication, Mann has proved to be a depressing failure on all fronts,” stated Bajwa, reiterating that it could be a “big mistake” to ally with the BJP.
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‘AAP in Punjab misusing their energy in opposition to us’
Bajwa, together with the Punjab Congress Committee (PCC) president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, had met Kharge on 29 Could to oppose the social gathering supporting AAP over the ordinance row.
Punjab Congress leaders are additionally upset over the failure of the excessive command to understand what they termed as a “ruthless witch-hunt” unleashed by the AAP in Punjab in opposition to the previous’s leaders.
Greater than a dozen senior Congress leaders — together with former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, deputy chief minister O.P. Soni and cupboard ministers Brahm Mohindra, Manpreet Badal, Vijay Inder Singla, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Kangar, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Sham Sunder Arora, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot — are dealing with probes by the Vigilance Bureau.
Many of those leaders, like Manpreet Badal, Sham Sunder Arora, Gurpreet Kangar and Balbir Singh Sidhu, have since joined the BJP.
“Letting the Vigilance Bureau free on our leaders is nothing however a crass try by the Mann authorities to defame our social gathering and to try to paint our leaders as corrupt. The AAP in Punjab is misusing their energy in opposition to us with all their would possibly,” stated Bajwa.
He added that each one the objections had been laid earlier than the social gathering’s prime management through the assembly Monday. “We’ve got been assured that no step shall be taken which can jeopardise our place within the state.”
Whereas Bajwa has claimed that all the Congress management in Punjab is against the formation of an alliance with AAP, social gathering chief and former state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has chosen to associate with the choice of the social gathering excessive command.
Speaking to media individuals after organising a ‘maun satyagraha‘ (silent protest) in opposition to the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a member of the Lok Sabha Sunday, Sidhu stated that the INDIA alliance was a historic transfer.
“It’s just like the confluence of a number of small rivers coming collectively to type an enormous deluge which has inside itself the drive and energy of all these rivers mixed,” he stated.
When requested if there have been any variations inside the Punjab unit of the Congress over the INDIA alliance, Bajwa stated that each chief had the fitting to place forth their private views, “However we’re one in our collective response.”
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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