oppn parties Congress: Dissidence Brews In Punjab

Story Of The Day

Assessee Not Responsible For Ensuring TDS Is Paid To The Government: Delhi HC
OPINIONS : Strongly Expressed

January 22, 2025

People Are Talking About

Rohit Warns Sarfaraz, Police Use It To Warn Two-Wheeler Riders

News Snippets

  • Sikh extremists attacked a cinema hall in London that was playing Kangana Ranaut's controversial film 'Emergency'
  • A Delhi court directed the investigating agencies to senstize officers to collect nail clippings, fingernail scrappings or finger swab in order to get DNA profile as direct evidence of sexual attack is often not present and might result in an offender going scot free
  • Uniform Civil Code rules cleared by state cabinet, likely to be implemented in the next 10 days
  • Supreme Court reiterates that there is no point in arresting the accused after the chargesheet has been filed and the investigation is complete
  • Kolkata court sentences Sanjoy Roy, the sole accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case, to life term. West Bengal government and CBI to appeal in HC for the death penalty
  • Supreme Court stays criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for his remarks against home minister Amit Shah in Jharkhand during the AICC plenary session
  • Government reviews import basket to align it with the policies of the Trump administration
  • NCLT orders liquidation of GoAir airlines
  • Archery - Indian archers bagged 2 silver in Nimes Archery tournament in France
  • Stocks make impressive gain on Monday - Sensex adds 454 points to 77073 and Nifty 141 points to 23344
  • D Gukesh draws with Fabiano Caruana in the Tata Steel chess tournament in the Netherlands
  • Women's U-19 T20 WC - In a stunning game, debutants Nigeria beat New Zealand by 2 runs
  • Rohit Sharma to play under Ajinkye Rahane in Mumbai's Ranji match against J&K
  • Virat Kohli to play in Delhi's last group Ranji trophy match against Saurashtra. This will be his first Ranji match in 12 years
  • The toll in the Rajouri mystery illness case rose to 17 even as the Centre sent a team to study the situation
Calling the case not 'rarest of rare', a court in Kolkata sentenced Sanjay Roy, the only accused in the R G Kar rape-murder case to life in prison until death
oppn parties
Congress: Dissidence Brews In Punjab

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-06-03 13:31:57

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

Serious trouble is brewing in another Congress-ruled state and this time it is not the BJP that can be blamed for instigating it. Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had faced dissidence earlier too. But this time, Navjot Singh Sidhu is going hammer and tongs at him ever since the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the probe into the police firing after the alleged desecration of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari in 2015. The court had dismissed the case as nothing substantial was found in the probe and the dissidents are now accusing the government of having conducted shoddy investigation. Matters have reached such a point that the Captain is visiting Delhi today to meet a panel appointed by Sonia Gandhi to try to solve the issue amicably. But ahead of the meeting, six ministers reluctantly joined a virtual cabinet meeting called by the chief minister on Wednesday and there are reports that several MLAs have revolted against him.

The old guard versus young blood issue does not seem to be leaving the Congress. Ranged against the Captain are Pratap Singh Bajwa (the former Punjab Congress chief who was handpicked by Rahul Gandhi) and Navjot Singh Sindhu (the recruit from the BJP who never misses a chance to show how close he is to the Gandhis). In fact, so stinging were the barbs that Sindhu threw at him this time that the normally cool Amarinder Singh angrily charged him with planning to join the AAP. Sindhu in return posted his pictures with the Gandhis on social media and asked the Captain to provide proof of his meetings with AAP as alleged.

It seems that with state elections due in 2022, the younger leaders are making a strong pitch to prevent the 79-year-old veteran from leading the party once again. In 2017 they had failed despite a strong backing from Rahul Gandhi as the Captain had the backing of a majority of state MLAs. But the party might be looking for an alternative this time given Singh's advancing age. That might be one of the reasons why there has been no attempt to prevent the dissidents, mainly Sidhu, from needling the chief minister over the last one month. But the Congress needs to act fast and decide who it wants to lead as in the current situation the chief minister has not been able to look after the state properly. With elections due in 2022, anti-incumbency will set in and the party will lose another state due to its follies.  

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Turmoil In Mollywood

Turmoil In Mollywood

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

NDA 3.0: Coalition Dharma

In Depth

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Supreme Court Gets Strict On Child Pornography

Editor's Pick

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions

Budapest Chess Olympiad: India Are World Team Champions
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.