New Delhi, January 18
Even though the Congress highcommand has ruled out changing party candidates on any seat in Punjab, ticket aspirants from the state continue to come to the AICC to complain about “injustice” to them.
Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Badal, who had sought ticket from Lambi and Mr Ripjeet Singh Brar, who was an aspirant from Muktsar, met AICC treasurer Motilal Vora today.
They were accompanied by several other supporters of party MP Jagmeet Singh Brar, who is unhappy over distribution of ticket in his parliamentary constituency of Faridkot. Urging the high command to review decision on some of the seats in Faridkot, they told Mr Vora that Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Badal, who is a relative of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, would give a tough fight to the Chief Minister from Lambi.
The murmurs of protest over party’s seat-sharing with the CPI are also not dying down with some state Congress leaders accusing the CPI leader Joginder Dayal of encouraging defections from the Congress. Mr M M Singh Cheema, a member of PCC, today met senior AICC leaders demanding that party should break off its arrangement with the CPI as its leader was admitting Congressmen into his party.
Ms Gurdeep Kaur, who was seeking ticket from Panjgrahian, which has been given to the CPI by the Congress, met the AICC leaders today. Mr Darshan Singh Brar, an aspirant from Jagraon and Mr Joginder Singh Chhina, who had applied from Dina Nagar and Narot Mehra, are camping in Delhi to convince the highcommand about their cases. Supporters of Mr Balbir Singh had staged a dharna at the
AICC yesterday demanding ticket for him from Kharar.
Meanwhile, the Congress has begun the exercise of selecting party candidates for the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency. All the ticket aspirants have landed in the capital along with their supporters.
Sources said the Congress had formed a committee headed by PCC chief Mohammad Shafi Qureshi to decide the party’s candidate for the Jammu seat. The committee, which includes Mohammd Aslam, Mr Ghulam Rasool Kar, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed, Mr Yashpal Khajuria, Mr Tara Chand, Mr Praduman Singh and Mr Ayub Khan as its members, met today to draw a panel of names for the party ticket. Sources said the names shortlisted include Mr Mangat Ram Sharma, Mr Madan Lal, Mr Balwan Singh and Mr Janak Raj Gupta. A decision on party’s candidate is expected tomorrow.
In another development, the Congress today demanded resignation of the Left Front government in Tripura, saying that the state government had failed to maintain peace and order in the state. Mr Birajit Sinha, TPCC president, today released a “charge sheet” against the state government which accuses the government of being unable to contain incidents of murder and kidnapping.
