Punjab MLAs meet Rahul, most for change of guard

New Delhi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi today signalled an overhaul of the Punjab unit as he met 17 party MLAs from the state and sought their view over strengthening the party unit.Two separate meetings that lasted around an hour each (the first with nine Dalit MLAs and the second with eight general category legislators) saw most leaders favouring an immediate resolution of the Punjab leadership tussle between incumbent Pradesh Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa and former Chief Minister and Amritsar MP Capt Amarinder Singh.The Tribune has learnt that most legislators spoke of the need to replace the incumbent chief and bring Captain Amarinder Singh to lead the party in the face of a rising challenge from the BJP.The eight legislators from the general category who met Rahul comprised Partap Bajwa’s wife Charanjit Kaur Bajwa from Qadia segment.

A source said she was present when most leaders stressed the need for bringing in a “strong leader” to counter the rising BJP, which is winning in the name of PM Narendra Modi.“We spoke of the need to wake up to the relevance of personality based politics. Most MLAs mentioned how the BJP and AAP were seeking votes in the name of strong leaders such as Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal. We need one such leader, we said. And Capt Amarinder Singh is a clear choice,” said an MLA who attended the meeting.The group of Dalit MLAs is also learnt to have spoken in favour of Captain as their leader, leaving the final decision to the leadership.This group also said the top three positions in Punjab Congress — state unit president; Congress Legislature Party leader and head of complaints committee — must have a Jat, Dalit and Hindu face.SC legislators reminded Rahul of 2002 when the party cruised to victory with Capt Amarinder, a Jat, as the state unit chief and a Dalit face as the CLP leader.

Rahul did not say anything at the two meetings and only listened to the MLAs on ways to strengthen the party enough to win the 2017 elections, win back Dalit votes and galvanise workers.Sources said he wanted to script Congress’ resurrection in Punjab by winning it and “realised that balances needed to be struck”. Congress leaders said while Rahul’s meeting with MLAs today was a clear indication of an impending overhaul in the state unit and a change of leadership.