Punjab MLAs want Sonia to choose CLP leader

Jaswinder Singh Baidwan

Akhran da mureed
Staff member
The suspense over the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Punjab continues as party MLAs today unanimously authorised party chief Sonia Gandhi to take the call.
Forty of the 42 party MLAs converged on the Congress Bhawan in Chandigarh to discuss the issue in the presence of the central party observers Satyavrat Chaturvedi and RPN Singh and AICC general secretary-cum-party in charge for Punjab Shakeel Ahmed and AICC secretary Harish Chaudhary.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president-designate Capt Amarinder Singh stayed away from the event reportedly to avoid giving an impression that he was supporting an individual for the top CLP slot.
Ahmed indicated that the CLP leader and other office-bearers could be chosen by Sonia within a day or two.
The selection would be made by the AICC president on the basis of the feedback of the two observers, who were dispatched by the party high command to Chandigarh to sense the mood of the party MLAs.
“The broad criterion is to take everybody along,” Ahmed said, indicating that the party would not “dump” senior leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and Sunil Jakhar following the recent appointment of Capt Amarinder Singh as the PPCC president. “The two leaders will be given major responsibilities,” he said.
On what forced the party to replace Jakhar, Ahmed said: “The decision was taken to start afresh.” After their deliberations with Chaturvedi and RPN Singh, the party MLAs signed an authorisation letter urging the party chief to nominate the CLP leader and other office-bearers.
After a round of open discussion, the two Central observers held one-to-one interaction with each MLA seeking their suggestions on the CLP leader. Ahmed and Chaudhary, however, stayed away from the one-to-one closed-door discussion of the Central observers with the MLAs.
The Congress MLAs whose signatures figured on the letter included Jakhar, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Kewal Dhillon, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Lal Singh, Om Parkash Soni Rana Gurjit Singh and Preneet Kaur. Mohammad Sadique and Raja Warring, however, were not present.
 
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