After Jakhar resignation, focus again on Punjab Congress faultlines

Calling Jakhar “an asset worth his weight in gold”, Sidhu tweeted on Saturday, “The Congress should not lose #suniljakhar … Is an asset worth his weight in gold … Any difference can be resolved on the table.”

Dalit chief of Congress and former legislator Raj Kumar Verka — who had initially publicly criticized Jakhar and demanded his expulsion, earlier than reversing his stand and calling for unity — mentioned the previous PCC chief’s resignation was a “sad day” for the get together. “As a real soldier of the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, I’ll say just one factor that on one facet the Chintan Shivir is underway in Udaipur, all senior leaders of the Congress have to do ‘chinta’ on the property of the Congress getting completed “

But Warring Sidhu’s successor, mentioned Jakhar was out of the get together due to “wild and unsubstantiated, against the party that gave so much to him and his family”.

Punjab Congress working president and former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu mentioned, “There is little question that every one (Congressmen) take into account him (Jakhar) a great particular person. But, at this time the Congress get together wants self-discipline. If a celebration chief has any grudge in opposition to another get together chief, it ought to be conveyed on the get together platform. Even if you wish to give up the get together, it ought to be carried out in a respectful method.”

Criticizing the veteran chief, a senior Congress chief mentioned, “He (Jakhar) was by no means good to anyone. While serving as PCC chief, he didn’t go to the grassroots degree and didn’t set up any mass contact program. Someone instructed him from Delhi that many Punjab leaders have been in favor of him (because the CM face) and he made a problem out of that. I do not know what plans he has, however I’m very a lot positive that not even a single particular person will assist or accompany him wherever he goes.”

Jakhar’s rise and fall

Jakhar was 48 years outdated when he entered the ballot fray within the 2002 Assembly elections. His father Balram Jakhar is the longest-serving Lok Sabha Speaker, served because the governor of Madhya Pradesh, and was near the Gandhi household.

Sunil Jakhar was branded a reluctant politician however managed to make individuals sit up and take discover for he neither dressed like a profession politician nor spoke like one. He fought and gained the election from his household’s pocket borough of Abohar and went on to repeat the feat in 2007 and 2012.

Between 2012 and 2017, he was the Leader of the Opposition within the state Assembly. He suffered a shock defeat within the 2017 Assembly polls by the hands of an area councillor from the BJP however managed to bounce again by getting elected to the Lok Sabha that yr from Gurdaspur in a by-poll necessitated by the dying of actor-turned- Politician Vinod Khanna. He misplaced from Gurdaspur within the 2019 parliamentary elections to the BJP’s Sunny Deol.

Following the downturn in his electoral fortunes, Jakhar’s place within the Congress turned precarious. In the run-up to the Punjab elections, Jakhar that the Congress management didn’t select him as its chief ministerial face as he’s Hindu and following the ballot debacle labeled former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi a legal responsibility. Last month, the get together’s disciplinary committee issued him a show-cause discover saying he was accused of constructing “derogatory statements against Congress leaders and also attributed motives to the leadership of thinking on communal lines while deciding the leadership of CLP Punjab”.

Jakhar additionally bought in hassle with the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes, which directed the Jalandhar police to register an FIR in opposition to him for allegedly making objectionable feedback about Dalits in a tv interview. Though Jahkhar didn’t title anybody, his remarks have been construed to be geared toward Channi.

Jakhar didn’t reply to the get together’s show-cause discover, saying that as an alternative of constructing a “public spectacle” out of it, senior Congress leaders ought to have spoken to him.

Though he didn’t maintain any organizational posts, the get together final month stripped him of all positions for not budding from his place. “This is what ails the Congress,” Jakhar mentioned on Saturday. I have no idea about AAP, however the Punjab Congress has been demolished by get together leaders sitting in Delhi who know nothing about Punjab, Punjabiat, and Sikhism.”

Wishing the get together “goodbye and good luck”, Jakhar questioned the functioning type of get together president Sonia Gandhi and suggested her to be cautious of “sycophants”. To revive the get together, he requested the Gandhis to “lead by command” as an alternative of being “misled” by those that “don’t know about the ground realities of Punjab”.

Lashing out at senior Congress chief and Sonia’s advisor Ambika Soni, Jakhar mentioned she was a “blot on Punjab, Sikhs and Sikhi” and “defamed and insulted Hindu community” by making a narrative that “Punjab will be on fire if a Hindu becomes the chief minister”.