Can Amarinder ride out the storm?

PUNJAB CONGRESS

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

This is not the first time Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh has faced dissension in the party ranks. In 2005, during his first term as chief minister (2002-07), the rebellion was spearheaded by his deputy, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, who camped in New Delhi with 25 Congress MLAs to seek his ouster. The group had accused Amarinder of running the government with a coterie of officials, ignoring the views of party MLAs while taking decisions and not acting against corrupt ministers. With the support of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the Captain survived the rebellion, but a similar crisis has engulfed him in his second chief ministerial term, with cabinet members and party legislators openly defying his writ.

In late-May, the Congress set up a three-member committee—of Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretary and Punjab in-charge Harish Rawat and former MP J.P. Aggarwal—to look into the complaints against Amarinder. The committee has met the dissidents, among them cabinet ministers Charanjit Singh Channi and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, state assembly speaker Rana K.P. Singh, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu and 23 MLAs. The panel is also likely to take in the views of other ministers, including those considered close to Amarinder, and former Punjab Congress chiefs Partap Singh Bajwa, Shamsher Singh Dullo, Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal. Many of them are Amarinder baiters.