With Leader of Opposition in Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa “requesting” former Punjab Pradesh Congress Chief (PPCC) chief Navjot Singh Sidhu to stop holding “own stages,” the Punjab Congress, which has a long history of factionalism, is once again in the open.
Bajwa invited Sidhu to take part in party demonstrations and said that Sidhu should not organize a separate “akhara” in addition to the advice he was receiving.
Sidhu held a rally in the Mehraj area of Bathinda district on Sunday. Responding to this, Partap Singh Bajwa said, “I would only ask that he (Sidhu) act with some maturity. If the Congress party has shown you respect, then take it in stride. Tuhanu es jamaat ne ijjat maan de hi ditta e te onu digest vi karo”.
“I would only request him to quietly go along with the party cadre and come to party stages. Now after two days, we [Punjab Congress] are holding protests in Jagraon and Phagwara on December 21 and 22. Come there if you have to say something. Eh aapna nawan akhara launa changi gal nahi. Koyi Punjab da Congress man enu changi gal nahi samajhda (This setting up of one’s stage is not a good thing. No Punjab Congress man considers it good).”
“As president of the PPCC, you witnessed the Congress lose 78 [seats in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 2017] and gain only 18 [seats in 2022],” Bajwa said, complainingly.
Responding to bajwa’s accusations, Malvinder Singh Mali, an advisor Sidhu appointed during his tenure as head of the PPCC, wrote in a facebook post, “The onus of Congress MLAs getting reduced from 78 to 18 lies on you and not Navjot Sidhu as [then] PPCC president.”
Mali asked Bajwa, “Navjot Singh Sidhu has attacked policies of the government. Why are you getting perturbed?”