Chandigarh, February 25
The President of the All-India Congress Committee, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, has intervened to get the leader of the Congress Legislature
Party (CLP) elected unanimously in Punjab.
Mrs Gandhi has held a detailed meeting with the former Punjab Chief Minister, Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in this connection.
Mrs Bhattal told The Tribune that she would not stake a claim for the post of Chief Minister as there was no such precedent in “our party” for the office of the Chief Minister.
Mrs Bhattal said that there was a tradition of electing the leader of the CLP after seeking the opinion of the party MLAs in the party. “ As I am also an MLA, I will give my opinion like others at the party’s meeting”, she asserted. “ I will abide by the decision, whatever it may be, of the party high command which had never hurt the sentiments and feelings of any party leader”, she added.
It is significant that a few days ago, Mrs Bhattal had stated openly that she was in the race for the chief ministership of Punjab.
Admitting that she had met Mrs Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, Mrs Bhattal, however, refused to reveal details of the meeting saying that “yeh raj ki baat hai ( it is matter which I want to keep secret). Internal matters could not be shared with the media, she added.
When asked whether she would
accept anything less than the office of the Chief Minister, Mrs Bhattal said that as she had been a Chief Minister of the state and also president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, she could not think of accepting any office having lower status.
It appears that the party high command has offered her Presidentship of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. When asked in this connection, Mrs Bhattal said she would make her opinion known to the party command in this connection when asked for it.
Giving the credit to Mrs Sonia Gandhi for the party’s good performance in the current Assembly elections in Punjab and Uttaranchal, Mrs Bhattal said that the verdict was against the BJP-led Government at the Centre.
