Chandigarh: In Punjab, the state unit of the Congress has expressed its strong objection before the high command to the party aligning with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at the national level.
Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa Monday met Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and party President Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi to put forward the view of the state unit.
“I unequivocally conveyed sentiments of the INC’s senior leadership in the state and cadre’s (sic) regarding the recently formed alliance at the National level and the trickle down effect of that arrangement on the party in Punjab. I was assured by the apex leadership that the interests of the Party in Punjab would be completely protected and won’t be allowed to be jeopardised under any circumstances whatsoever,” Bajwa tweeted.
Had a fruitful and productive meeting with Chairperson Congress Parliamentary Party Smt. Sonia Gandhi Ji and INC president Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji at Parliament House today morning.
I briefed them about the devastation caused by the floods in Punjab and political situation…
— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) July 24, 2023
Talking to ThePrint Tuesday, Bajwa said any alliance with the AAP, which is in power in Punjab, would be detrimental to the Congress in the state.
“Any kind of bonding with the AAP, even at the national level, will have a detrimental trickle-down effect on the state unit and we will lose our space as an opposition party. Other players will immediately occupy that space and grow as the main opposition parties to the ruling party in the state. This, I believe, will have a very demoralising impact on our cadres down the line,” he said.
Last week, 26 opposition parties had announced the creation of the “INDIA” alliance to counter the ruling BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year. The alliance included, among other parties, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP.
According to Bajwa, he has been trying to raise awareness among the people of Punjab about the AAP and BJP being allegedly in cahoots with each other. “That has been my stand and it will continue to remain so,” said Bajwa.
“AAP’s leaders are not to be trusted. They are the BJP’s B team. If you notice, they have supported the BJP in all key issues, whether it was the abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir or the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Now, even for the Uniform Civil Code, the first voice of support to the BJP has come from AAP leader Sandeep Pathak,” he added.
Bajwa also talked about the Congress in the state “strongly opposing” Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over not having fulfilled poll promises made before the elections.
“The law-and-order situation in the state is in tatters. The state is in huge debt…. whether it was the ending of the sand mafia, corruption or drugs, Mann has proved to be a miserable failure on all fronts,” said Bajwa, reiterating that it would be a “huge mistake” to ally with the BJP.
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‘AAP in Punjab misusing their power against us’
Bajwa, along with the Punjab Congress Committee (PCC) president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, had met Kharge on 29 May to oppose the party supporting AAP over the ordinance row.
Punjab Congress leaders are also upset over the failure of the high command to appreciate what they termed as a “ruthless witch-hunt” unleashed by the AAP in Punjab against the former’s leaders.
More than a dozen senior Congress leaders — including former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, deputy chief minister O.P. Soni and cabinet ministers Brahm Mohindra, Manpreet Badal, Vijay Inder Singla, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Kangar, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Sham Sunder Arora, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot — are facing probes by the Vigilance Bureau.
Many of these leaders, like Manpreet Badal, Sham Sunder Arora, Gurpreet Kangar and Balbir Singh Sidhu, have since joined the BJP.
“Letting the Vigilance Bureau loose on our leaders is nothing but a crass attempt by the Mann government to defame our party and to try and paint our leaders as corrupt. The AAP in Punjab is misusing their power against us with all their might,” said Bajwa.
He added that all the objections were laid before the party’s top leadership during the meeting Monday. “We have been assured that no step will be taken which will jeopardise our position in the state.”
While Bajwa has claimed that the entire Congress leadership in Punjab is opposed to the formation of an alliance with AAP, party leader and former state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has chosen to go along with the decision of the party high command.
Talking to media persons after organising a ‘maun satyagraha‘ (silent protest) against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a member of the Lok Sabha Sunday, Sidhu said that the INDIA alliance was a historic move.
“It is like the confluence of several small rivers coming together to form a huge deluge which has within itself the force and power of all those rivers combined,” he said.
When asked if there were any differences within the Punjab unit of the Congress over the INDIA alliance, Bajwa said that every leader had the right to put forth their personal views, “But we are one in our collective response.”
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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