Chandigarh: There appears no end to the crisis within the ruling Congress in Punjab ahead of state polls due early next year.Only last week, the party’s public image took a major beating after chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh awarded the post of inspector and Naib Tehsildar to the sons of two party MLAs, calling it a small token of gratitude for the sacrifices of their families.Even as five of his cabinet colleagues objected to the move, he refused to back down. The opposition was quick to attack the Captain. A Congress camp close to Rahul Gandhi, including MLAs Raja Warring and Kuljit Singh Nagra did not spare the chief minister either.Even Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, a close aide to Captain, slammed him and asked him to roll back the ‘ill-advised’ move.If this was not enough to dent the party, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu’s nasty attack on Captain in his latest media interviews, calling him a “liar” and accusing him of working against the interest of the people, only made things worse for the party.In his sharpest attack on Captain so far, Sidhu went on to say that a system “run by two powerful families (indicating the Badals and Captain) were controlling Punjab, belittling the legislature, overriding the interests of the state and purely for their vested, selfish interests and businesses as collusion.”“They have controlled everything. They have fended for each other, defended each other. My fight has been against that system,” he further stated.Congress Punjab MP Pratap Singh Bajwa speaks to media after meeting with party leader Rahul Gandhi regarding Punjab political crisis, in New Delhi, Wednesday, June 23, 2021. Photo: PTICongress’s central leadership that had been working hard to bring the two leaders together in the last few months appeared frustrated with Sidhu’s fresh jibe against the Captain.“The party will assess his statement after receiving relevant information. When the matter is before the Congress president, it isn’t fair to say anything through newspapers,” Congress leader and Punjab affairs in-charge Harish Rawat told media in Delhi on Tuesday when asked about Sidhu’s allegation on the “two families.”End of the road for Sidhu in Congress?Senior journalist Hamir Singh told The Wire that Sidhu’s latest outburst will have severely affected the relationship between him and the Captain and chances of any future reconciliation between the leaders look extremely difficult at this stage.Sidhu’s attack on Captain, he said, was not a sudden emotional outburst. “Sidhu must have got enough indication that the Captain has prevailed over the party’s central leadership in keeping him away from the post of Punjab Congress chief, a post Sidhu was desperately eying for in order to replace Captain,” he said.But it is the party high command that is in major trouble in the prevailing tension between Sidhu and Captain, Hamir Singh said, considering that it does not want to lose neither Captain nor Sidhu. Both leaders are egoistic and adamant, which is what has brought their fight out in the open and to a stage where the party has its back to the wall now.He said the party cannot afford to lose Captain Amarinder Singh as he still has a lot of MLAs’ support. Ultimately, it is Sidhu who could get his way out of Congress. His brazen attack on the Captain and statement of Congress’s central leadership unhappy with Sidhu’s media interviews is clearly indicating towards it, Hamir Singh said.There have been rumours that the Captain has threatened the party central leadership of dire consequences if Sidhu is elevated to the party chief post.Apart from the chief minister’s own political weight within the party, he is learned to have also sealed a secret pact with his bête noire, Partap Singh Bajwa, who once supported Sidhu over the ouster of Captain, to keep Sidhu out of the reckoning.Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Delhi chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s latest announcement that the party will field a Sikh candidate as chief minister for the 2022 Punjab polls has only triggered more speculation.Hamir Singh said that if Sidhu joins AAP and gets nominated for the chief minister’ post, it may boost the party’s chances. However, AAP in the last four and half years, has failed to establish a strong ground-level structure. “It can’t win an election unless it has a strong wave in its favour,” he added.Harjeshwar Pal Singh, a political commentator based in Chandigarh, said that after Congress’s clean sweep in the municipal polls in February this year and the dismal presence of opposition parties in wake of the farmers’ protests, Congress appears to be on very strong footing.But there has been no doubt that its popularity graph has nosedived ever since its top leadership locked horns. Not only this, the party has been “making blunders” by doling out sops to its own party men and their kin when unemployment in the state is very high.Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal offers prayer at Golden temple in Amritsar, Monday, June 21, 2021. Former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh who joined Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the Punjab Assembly Elections 2022, also seen. Photo: PTIApart from this, it has been facing a crisis over its failure to resolve the sacrilege issue. What has surprised many is that after BJP leaders, even Congress leaders have begun facing boycotts by farmers’ leaders in Punjab whereas the party was being seen as pro-farmer months ago.“At a time when it has to defend its four-and-half-year track record, it has been in major turmoil with no side thinking about the party’s interest,” said Harjeshwar Singh.“If the similar situation prevails within the Congress camp, it will only end up emboldening the rival parties,” he addedAmid escalating tension in the state unit, Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday, June 22, met a three-member Congress panel in Delhi.Mallikarjun Kharge, who heads the panel, said after the meeting, “The party is united under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Everybody has said that they will fight the polls together.”Where are the jobs?Meanwhile, the issue surrounding the chief minister’s move to give plump postings to party MLA’s sons refuses to die down.A Chandigarh-based lawyer, Harinder Pal Singh Ishar, served a legal notice to the Punjab government on Tuesday citing that the government’s appointments to MLA’s sons on the ground that their grandfathers were killed by terrorists was admittedly in violation of the Scheme for Compassionate Appointments, 2002.He said, as per the scheme, compassionate appointments can be offered on Group C and Group D posts but here compassionate appointments were given on ‘Group B’ posts.“It is also a settled proposition that the compassionate appointment is to enable the penurious family of the deceased employee to tide over the sudden financial crisis and not to provide employment. In fact in many cases, the compassionate appointment has been declined because there are other earning members in the family and in the present case, the families are billionaires,” stated the lawyer in his notice.He said a similar benefit was declined to the son of a fallen soldier Harbhajan Singh who was killed in action in 1995. Although he was fully eligible under the policy and the application submitted by Singh’s wife Jaswinder Kaur was rejected, the lawyer said.Following the Captain’s decision, unemployed teachers have been up in arms against the state government.Surinder Pal, who has cleared the ETT-TET exams but is unemployed, has been sitting atop a mobile tower in Patiala for the last 95 days in protest. He released a video message and said, “I don’t want to live in a place where the government is giving jobs to sons of MLAs while qualified candidates have to protest.”He questioned “Why can’t the chief minister take pity?”Pal is now fasting and has requested the Punjab government to grant him permission to take his life.[If you know someone – friend or family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. The Suicide Prevention India Foundation maintains a list of telephone numbers they can call to speak in confidence. Icall, a counselling service run by TISS, has maintained a crowdsourced list of therapists across the country. You could also take them to the nearest hospital.]AAP MLA and youth wing chief Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer also accused the Captain of “bargaining to save his seat” by giving jobs to sons of MLAs.If after being atop a tower for 92 days this ETT-TET pass unemployed teacher still hasn’t got your ear, then there’s no hope for Punjab @capt_amarinder. Lakhs of youth like Surinderpal are still waiting for you to fulfill your promise of ghar ghar rozgar. pic.twitter.com/D6D8M7NsKw— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) June 21, 2021He also alleged that the children of the “aam aadmi” were being “humiliated in name of employment fairs”, while “the family members of martyr Udham Singh were forced to work on minimal wages.”Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, meanwhile, declared that the party would dismiss from service all persons given “illegal” appointments on compassionate grounds by the Congress government once it forms the government in the state.
