Congress leaders in Punjab continue to damage the party while competing for the mirage that is chair of the chief minister
Congress
leaders in Punjab battling over what presently is mirage -The CM Chair
Ground Zero
Jagtar Singh
The present
Assembly election in Punjab is different from the earlier ones for yet one more
reason.
The top
Congress leadership that is ruling party in Punjab is engaged in
no-holds-barred fight over what under the given situation seems to be mirage - who
would be the chief minister in case even by a remote chance the party manages
to retain power for which a chief ministerial face has to be declared.
Normally,
this situation emerges when the party is not in power. In this case, the party
has a chief minister in Charanjit Singh Channi who has the distinction of being
the first from the scheduled castes to occupy this high office in this state.
This is a
two horse race in which the competitors happens to be Channi and state party
chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. While Channi is low profile and has been taking pains
to project himself as the commoner after taking over from Capt Amarinder Singh,
Sidhu has no pretensions about being over ambitious and he has been going
around marketing himself aggressively.
But the
basic issue is that of the Congress overcoming strong anti-incumbency and
fighting against two other strong competitors and two other formations whose impact
on the electoral dynamics continues to be assessed. These include the newly
formed Sanyukt Samaj Morcha and the Bharatiya Janata Party led alliance that
includes the Punjab Lok Congress led by Capt Amarinder Singh and a breakaway
Akali faction headed by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.
What is
clear so far is that the BJP is going ahead full throttle despite the fact that
the party is in no position to capture power. Post-poll arrangement is a
different dimension but for that, this formation has to win respectable number
of seats. The BJP has been piggybacking the Shiromani Akali Dal since the 1997
Assembly election.
Interestingly,
even after the last date for nominations is over, party leaders continue to
switch sides and the latest case is that of former Punjab Congress chief H S
Hanspal who today joined AAP as his son was no accommodated.
This
election has further reinforced the perception that there is nothing like party loyalty or
ideological commitment and the only issue is that of self-promotion. After all,
politics is now a big business and easy way to make money if one happens to be
at the right place and at the right time.
So many
people have crossed sides that the impact has been neutralised. It does not
matter much as to on which side a leader is.
It is the
Congress that continues to provide more entertainment
with its inner power struggle revolving around the chief ministerial face.
Sidhu, who
made his position at Jalandhar recently in the presence of Rahul Gandhi saying
that he would not like to be a show piece, has been dropped from the list of
star campaigners for Uttarakhand. The Congress has been utilising his services
in all earlier elections in other regions. This is a signal.
Although he
has suddenly been caught in a pitched battle, he left for Vaishno Devi shrine near
Jammu yesterday at the time when every day counts. But then it is a matter of
faith.
The Congress
leaders should be fighting not only
their personal battles but focus on respectable numbers that can provide space
for their ambitions to proliferate.
It is not
the fight for future chief ministership among the top leaders that is damaging
the party. The factional fight at the constituency too has the potential to play
havoc.
The
Shiromani Akali Dal is going steady.
The
situation is changing in the state almost every day.
its really a mirage for congress this time, you nailed it Bhaji
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