Warring reinstates Phillaur MLA
Ludhiana, June 3 -- With weeks to go for the Ludhiana West bypoll, the internal bickering in the Congress state unit has once again come to the fore.
In a game of political one-upmanship, state Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Monday revoked the suspension of the party's Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, a bitter rival of former chief minister and Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi. He was welcomed into the party fold at an event in Dakha in the presence of several party leaders, including former deputy CM and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
The Phillaur MLA was suspended after he made statements against Channi, who was then the party's Jalandhar candidate, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
This comes a day after Channi, along with Congress' Ludhiana West candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who is also working president of the party, re-inducted local politician Kamaljit Singh Karwal into the party with Warring conspicuous by his absence, prompting speculation on the internal power struggle within the state unit.
Karwal, a political turncoat, has moved between Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), SAD, Congress, BJP, and AAP before returning to Congress.
Warring, who was in Dakha to address the 'Samvidhan Bachao' rally praised Chaudhary, calling him "a third-generation, dyed-in-the-wool Congressman."
Sources within the party have confirmed that Warring was unhappy with Karwal's induction and has already flagged the issue with AICC Punjab in-charge Bhupesh Baghel.
Ashu defended the move and said as the working president of the party, and "had secured Baghel's go-ahead before inducting Karwal."
Chaudhary stated that his family has served Congress for three generations. "Leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa has convinced me to return to the party fold," he said.
Karwal's arch-rivals, the Bains brothers (Simarjeet Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains), who had merged their Lok Insaaf Party with Congress last year, have slammed the move.
Simarjeet Bains has openly questioned the lack of protocol followed with inducting Kaewal, saying that "the state chief should have been present."...
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