Captain Amarinder Singh Frontrunner For State Congress Leadership

The rabble-rousing in Punjab over who should lead the party in the state and escalating public confrontations  between former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Congress state president Partap Singh Bajwa have left the party nonplussed and red-faced.

There are growing concerns that the constant public face-offs could cause deep damage to the party’s prospects in the upcoming 2017 polls. Concerned by the development, party president Rahul Gandhi met over a dozen party legislators from  the state and 12 MLAs seeking consensus over the matter.

Sources reveal that a majority of legislators within the party view Amarinder Singh as the best man to head the state, as Bajwa has been a letdown in standing up to either the Akali Dal-BJP combine or the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that has surfaced as strong political force in the state.

That has led to strong indications from the party leadership that a change of guard is likely on the cards.  However, the members are believed to be unhappy over the delay in action being taken by the leadership, which brings back the sour memories of Assam for the Congress where an internal revolt against CM Tarun Gogoi had induced exits of many party leaders, including former minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
who recently joined the BJP.

The current state of affairs is a throwback to when Rahul Gandhi had convened a meeting with members in February earlier this year over the same issue. There is another round of talks scheduled on Oct 12 which may help bring more clarity on the matter.

The members of the Congress in the state are anxious over the growing factionalism within the party, skeptical that it may hand over undue advantage to the opposing parties. Their biggest threat comes from AAP which could eat into their support base as had happened in Delhi and become the next ‘viable alternative’ the Akali-BJP collaboration.