Trouble within Punjab Congress trebles over factionalism within

Chandigarh: Congress has expelled former Punjab MLA Surjit Dhiman for “anti-party” activities. The special thing is that this action has been taken just hours after Amarinder Raja  was appointed as the new Punjab chief. Dhiman is considered close to Sidhu. He had raised questions on giving the command of the party to Vading. Now this expulsion is also being seen as a warning to those leaders who do not follow the orders of the party.

Surjit Dhiman, former MLA from Amargarh, had called Vading inexperienced. He had said that Vading was accused of corruption while he was the IYC president. He had also said that an honest leader like Sidhu was not given a second chance due to selfish interests. Not only this, he called Vading’s appointment as anti-Punjab. Congress’ Punjab affairs in-charge Harish Chaudhary has said that indiscipline will not be tolerated at any cost.

Here, Punjab Congress chief Vading, working president Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Dr Rajkumar Chhabbewal reached Delhi to meet party leaders. It is being said that the party is keeping an eye on former MLAs and leaders who were supporting Sidhu for a second term.

According to the report, sources said that while analyzing the party’s poor performance in the assembly elections at different forums of the organization, it came to the fore time and again that factionalism and lack of unity led to the defeat. There were also many occasions where CM candidate Charanjit Singh Channi and former Punjab Congress President Sidhu did not see one vote. In the conversation, Vading said that he would take every leader and worker of the party along to strengthen the organization in Punjab.

Political analysts say that Vading will face tough challenges from several senior leaders, including the Majha Brigade. At the same time, by appointing two Jat leaders Pratap Bajwa and Raja Vading and making Ashu the working president, the Hindu leadership has been pushed to the second number.