2024 LS polls: Growing chorus against tie-up with AAP, Punjab Congress leaders to meet party bosses
The 31-member PAC, which includes top leaders of the state Congress, will meet the party’s central leadership, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Rahul Gandhi, and general secretary KC Venugopal, in Delhi
Amid vociferous opposition by a strong section of its state leaders to a tie-up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress has convened a meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the party for Punjab on Tuesday.
The 31-member PAC, which includes top leaders of the state Congress, will meet the party’s central leadership, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Rahul Gandhi, and general secretary KC Venugopal, in Delhi for a discussion on seat-sharing and preparations for the parliamentary polls, according to two state leaders. “There are clear indications that the meeting will discuss whether to go it alone or have a tie-up with the AAP in Punjab,” one of them said on the condition of anonymity. The recent spat between senior party leaders is also likely to be taken up in the meeting.
Devender Yadav, newly appointed Punjab affairs in-charge, said the PAC would have a dialogue with the central leadership on the political situation in the state, which might include seat sharing. He said the central leadership would take into consideration the views of the state leaders before making any decision. “I will also talk to the state leaders and party workers, in addition to gauging public sentiment,” he added. The PAC constituted by Kharge in July this year includes Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Congress Legislature Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa, Ambika Soni, Sukhjinder Randhawa, former CM Charanjit Channi, former state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, deputy CLP leader Raj Kumar Chabbewal, and MPs Gurjit Singh Aujla and Ravneet Singh Bittu, among others.
The opinion in the state Congress has been sharply divided over the potential tie-up with the ruling AAP in the state. While a large section of state leaders, including Bajwa and Warring, has been opposing seat-sharing in Punjab, most of the Congress MPs from the state seem positive about the coalition with the AAP and the significance it holds for the 28-party Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in putting up a united fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in general elections.
Tuesday’s meeting comes just days after the anti-alliance group, including party leaders who are facing vigilance cases or are on the agency’s radar, have upped the ante against the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government, slamming it in public meetings and dharnas. They have also cautioned the Congress leadership about the consequences of ignoring the sentiments of the party’s rank and file on its prospects in the state. At a protest rally last week, Punjab Congress working president Bharat Bhushan Ashu said he would “sit at home during the Lok Sabha elections instead of committing this suicide.” Another section, which includes most of the seven sitting party MPs from the state, on the other hand, either supports the alliance or wants the state unit to leave the seat-sharing decision to the high command as part of the opposition bloc’s joint strategy to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi from scoring a hat-trick of wins in parliamentary polls.