Amid Infighting In Congress’ Punjab Unit, Amarinder Singh Arrives In Delhi

As infighting within the Congress’ Punjab unit continues to grow, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh arrived in Delhi to meet a Central team of the party to iron out differences over his government’s decision to provide jobs to sons of two sitting legislators on “compassionate grounds”.

Last week, the Punjab government appointed Arjun Pratap Singh Bajwa as an inspector in Punjab Police and Bhisham Pandey as a naib tehsildar in the state’s Revenue Department on the “compassionate” ground. Bajwa and Pandey are sons of Qadian MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa and Ludhiana legislator Rakesh Pandey.

Soon after the appointment, a few members within the Punjab Congress unit including state party chief Sunil Jakhar, opposed the move questioning the government’s decision to appoint sons of two sitting legislators to the posts.

Besides Jakhar, Congress legislators Kuljit Nagra, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Pargat Singh also expressed displeasure over the government decision.

While Singh had Saturday defended his government’s decision, in a previous cabinet meeting, five ministers — Sukhjinder Randhawa, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Razia Sultana, Charanjit Singh Channi and Sukhbinder Sarkaria — were also learnt to have also opposed the move.

This controversy comes in the backdrop of a raging conflict between Singh and his fellow party member Navjot Singh Sidhu, with the latter taking regular pot shots at the CM in public.

Further, it is learnt that Singh’s brusque leadership style has alienated an influential section of his party colleagues.

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