Top officials had already complicated the internal crisis – by not resolving issues that had begun to emerge two years ago. It just kept looking the other way. Then it worked out a peace thread that failed within a few weeks. Even after deciding that Amarinder had to go, apparently on Friday night, it failed to decide who would replace him. This just caused more heart-burning in the various camps within the party.
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All this will happen when state assembly elections are a little more than four months away and the model code of conduct will come into force sometime in January, leaving little time for the new office-bearer to do anything on the ground. A similar situation was witnessed when Navjot Singh Sidhu was appointed as the President of Punjab Congress and an unprecedented formula of four working presidents from different communities and castes was put in place. Amarinder and Sidhu harmed each other.
It was the removal of Amarinder which was considered the most difficult task, because of his ability to maneuver. The search for his replacement became more complicated, even as all other legislators, except Amarinder himself, adjourned before the high command’s wish and in no time passed a resolution authorizing the Congress president. Sonia Gandhi To pick your new leader.
It also became clear that the unity that existed between Amarinder’s opponents had vanished as soon as they were removed, they began to check on each other. Factionalism flourished and by evening individual lobbies had become daggers.
Firstly, Sunil JakhariHis name was blocked by a lobby working against him. Then, late Saturday night Ambika Soni’s name was seriously considered, which shocked many within the party as well. On Sunday morning he ‘denied’. then in the beginning Sukhjinder Singh RandhawaHis name surfaced, but he was also blocked by the lobby within the party. For some time the name of Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh had also cropped up. Navjot Sidhu also remained in the race. In the end, Charanjit Singh Channi was chosen by the party.
In all this, Jakhar, who had not even thrown his cap into the ring, but in the given situation was considered the best choice by a section in the party, and Randhawa faced embarrassment. The situation did not help Sidhu either as his name also cropped up in the race for the post. The whole incident showed the central leadership of the Congress in a bad light.
Infighting: Channi achieves the most in 6 years
This is the second time that Charanjit Singh Channi has been the biggest beneficiary of the infighting between the top Congress leaders. In 2015, when Captain Amarinder Singh wanted to replace Pratap as Punjab Congress President Singh Bajwa and managed to put pressure on the party high command with the support of several MLAs and other senior leaders, then CLP leader Sunil Jakhar offered to leave to facilitate factional balance as the party high command would not want all positions with Amarinder’s camp. Amarinder was appointed PPCC president and Jakhar was replaced by Channi. This time, Navjot Sidhu played the most important role in removing Amarinder and also bore the brunt of adverse publicity by the outgoing CM, but Channi got the most coveted post. Also, Jakhar became the first to fall for Amarinder’s convenience on both occasions and this time he left the post of PPCC president for Sidhu, even as his performance was not in question on either occasion.
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