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PPCC revamp on cards Young chief likely
T. R. Ramachandran
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 23
The Congress high command is actively considering revamping the Punjab Pradesh Congress committee (PPCC) and having a youthful person as its chief as the experience in Haryana had proved to be highly successful in that state.

Several options, including laying stress on the Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Classes as well as Hindu criteria are being considered, according to authoritative sources.

In an attempt at perspective planning after the stunning electoral triumph in Haryana where Randeep Singh Surjewala had been made Working President of the HPCC without disturbing Bhajan Lal as the overall chief of the state unit, the central leadership of the Congress believes it needs to set its house in order in Punjab which is ridden by acute factionalism.

The Congress high command wants to get started well in advance with Assembly elections in Punjab barely two years away rather than at the very last moment when the new state party supremo is unable to get his act together. This has been the party’s bane in the past when quick fix changes in a state unit on the eve of elections only took the party further into an abyss at the hustings.

Having learnt from its past mistakes, the party leadership is keen to gear up if it has to keep former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s SAD at bay where the second generation leadership is being propped up and encouraged.

Those reportedly shortlisted among the SCs, OBCs and Hindus are Shamsher Singh Dullo, Iqbal Singh, Malkiat Singh Birmi, Darbari Lal and Manish Tiwari, who contested for the Lok Sabha from Ludhiana but lost. The defeat is not being viewed as a black spot with Mr Tiwari coupled with the fact that his father was a victim of terrorist violence in the state.

The last time when the Congress high command began its hunt for the PPCC chief, H. S. Hanspal and Shamsher Singh Dullo were the frontrunners.

Even as Mr Birmi had met Congress President Sonia Gandhi earlier this week to discuss organisational affairs in Punjab, Mr Tiwari, who is a Secretary in the AICC and a former Youth Congress President appears to have a marked edge over the others.

The party high command wants a person to head the PPCC who can not only take the various factions along but also remain focussed on the socio-economic development of the state.

Sources insist that a revamp of the PPCC is on the anvil after consultations with Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh who is expected to discuss the matter with the Congress President and apprise her of the overall political situation in the state next week.