Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 24: Fissures within the Congress in every state it rules has kept the party high command engaged to douse the fire but every now and then the trouble within comes out in the open.
Even as the fire within the party has kept burning in both Punjab and Rajasthan with the high command so far unable to bring about peace between the rival factions, trouble has broken out in Chhattisgarh forcing the former party president Rahul Gandhi to try to mediate between the two rival leaders, both demanding the chair of the chief minister.
Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and State Health Minister TS Singh Deo in an effort to resolve the power tussle between the two senior leaders in the state. AICC in-charge for Chhattisgarh PL Punia and AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal were also present during the meeting convened by Rahul Gandhi at his residence.
Singh Deo and Baghel have been at loggerheads with the former claiming that at the time of the ministry formation after the election victory in 2018, an understanding had reached with the party leadership that the post of the chief minister would be rotated after two and half years. Baghel, however, has been contesting the claim.
Both have said they would abide by the decision of the party high command. “Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are our leaders and we would abide by with whatever they say,” Singh Deo told reporters before the meeting. Baghel has also said whatever decision the leadership take would be followed.
While the two have met Rahul Gandhi earlier on the issue, Baghel has also met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Singh Deo and Baghel had also fought recently over an issue of a pro-chief minister MLA having accused the health minister of orchestrating an attack on him. The matter was settled after his allegation was found wrong and the member publicly apologized to Singh Deo.
The Congress has been facing similar problems in Punjab and Rajasthan also with senior leaders facing off on a range of issues. Just at the two leaders in Chhattisgarh promised to “abide by” the decision taken by the high command, similar promises by the Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and his strong critic and the present state Congress chief Navjyot Singh Sidhu is in the shambles with never-ending feud between the two coming out in the open again on Tuesday.
At least 31 Congress MLAs and half a dozen ex-MLAs including about five ministers in the Amarinder Singh cabinet and some close associates of Sidhu met separately at cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa’s residence and decided to urge the high command to replace Amarinder Singh as the chief minister, saying that the party’s leaders in the state have “lost confidence in him.” Sidhu, however, was not a part of the meeting.
The demand for the removal of Amarinder Singh from the post of the Punjab Chief Minister has resurfaced after he targeted the advisors of Sidhu over their comments on Pakistan and Kashmir.
The MLAs including cabinet ministers Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and state Congress general secretary Pargat Singh — known to be close to Sidhu — attended a meeting on the issue today. “Captain should be replaced else the Congress won’t survive… we will meet Sonia Gandhi over the issue,” said cabinet minister Tript Bajwa. “We feel all the poll promises will not be fulfilled, hence we will meet the central leadership,” said cabinet minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
Channi said the leaders had reached a consensus that six members of the party, including five ministers and Congress general secretary in charge of PCCC Pargat Singh will leave for Delhi immediately to meet AICC chief Sonia Gandhi.
Bajwa, who hosted the meeting, said, “We have no option but to seek his replacement. No work has been done and no promises fulfilled. Therefore, we will tell the high command that the CM has lost trust of the people.”
Bajwa claimed that 46 MLAs had attended his meeting and said many others were also in the rebel camp but did not want to attend such a meeting openly. He also said that they do not have an appointment with Gandhi in Delhi, but will take the issue to the general secretary in charge and press upon him the need to organise a meeting.
Bajwa also said they have not invited Sidhu. “We had just informed him yesterday that there will be a meeting. But we did not tell him about the agenda. Nor did we ask him to attend it. We will brief him now about the proceedings of the meeting,” he said.
The Congress leaders, who rebelled against the CM, have been preparing to call a meeting of legislators in the presence of Sidhu and pass a resolution stating that they had lost confidence in Amarinder Singh, sources said.
Amarinder Singh’s loyalists — five state Punjab ministers and one MLA — have, meanwhile, demanded action against the aides of Sidhu who has set off the controversy. This is the second time the state leaders have upped pitch on the Chief Minister’s removal after weeks of firefighting by the party high command.
While the high command made it clear that Singh will not be removed in view of next year’s assembly elections, the compromise formula also involved the elevation of the cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu — the main challenger of the Chief Minister — as the head of the party’s state unit. It had only led to a terse ceasefire between the two sides, broken occasionally by critical Twitter posts by Sidhu.
Last week, Sidhu’s advisors Pyare Lal Garg and Malwinder Mali, made headlines with their comments on Pakistan and Kashmir. In Facebook posts, Mali suggested that both India and Pakistan were illegal occupants in Kashmir. “Going against the tenets of the UNO resolutions, India and Pakistan have illegally usurped Kashmir. If Kashmir was a part of India, then what was the need to have Articles 370 and 35-A?,” he wrote. While Mali spoke of revocation of Article 370 and 35A, Garg questioned the Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s criticism of Pakistan.
In another post, Mali wrote on the Taliban: “Now it is their responsibility to protect Sikhs and Hindus. They will rule to improve the condition of the country, not like before.” Livid over the comments, which he dubbed atrocious and ill-conceived” Singh had urged Sidhu to rein in his advisors before they end up “doing more damage to India’s interests.”
“Stick to giving advice to Punjab Congress president and don’t speak on sensitive national issues of which you have little or no knowledge, with no idea of their implications,” the Chief Minister had tweeted. Sidhu was learnt to have summoned his two advisors for admonition but a decision is yet to be taken.
Meanwhile, the BJP chief JP Nadda on Tuesday criticised the Congress over recent statements made by Sidhu’s advisors and urged the party leadership to clarify its stance on Kashmir and Pakistan.
In a series of tweets, Nadda said if the Congress remains silent on the issue then it would seem that the party is supportive of the statements made by Sidhu’s advisors. “I would urge the topmost national leadership of the Congress to state clearly whether they support the remarks on Kashmir and Pakistan made by Congress leaders in Punjab? Silence on the matter will be seen as implicit support to such objectionable remarks,” Nadda said
“Recent comments by Punjab Congress leaders, who enjoy the patronage of the topmost state leadership as well as the high command in Delhi, are reprehensible. They are repeatedly making irresponsible statements that have grave implications on national security,” Nadda further added.
Besides the Punjab chief minister, who was the first to strongly react to Mali and Garg’s statements, the Congress MP Manish Tiwari and the senior party leader and former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat, who is the party in-charge of Punjab, have also condemned their statements.
Rawat said the Congress firmly believes that Kashmir is an inalienable part of India. Tiwari also slammed both the advisors and questioned whether they have the right to ‘live in India.’
In Rajasthan too, the high command is yet to resolve the crisis between the chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his rival and former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot despite several rounds of meetings following Pilot’s rebellion nearly a year ago. The high command apparently is buying time but is unable to reach to an agreed formula to douse the fire so far.
