New Delhi, September 21
Ending months of uncertainty, the Congress today appointed Mr Vijay Inder Singla as president of the Punjab Youth Congress. The party also announced office-bearers of the PYC.
Mr Singla, 34, who was earlier vice-president of the PYC, has been elevated to the top post in the youth Congress a few months ahead of the Assembly elections in the state.
The decision on the new PYC chief had been pending for several months as the party weighed the candidature of various claimants.
With the state chief minister, PCC chief and Mahila Congress chief all belonging to the majority community in the state, the party was looking for a candidate from the state’s main minority community for the post of PYC chief to keep “caste and community balance.”
Hailing from Patiala, Mr Singla is son of former MP Sant Ram Singla who was an associate of former President Giani Zail Singh.
Sources said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had written a letter some months back recommending Mr Singla as PYC chief. The new PYC chief also got the backing of PCC chief Shamsher Singh Dullo.
Mr Singla, who is also chairman of the Punjab Energy Development Agency, replaces Mr Raminder Awla.
IYC chief Ashok Tanwar, who announced the appointment of Mr Singla, also released names of office-bearers the Punjab Youth Congress Committee. He said the list had been approved by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Mr Oscar Fernandes, who is incharge of IYC.
The PYC vice-presidents include Manjeet Singh Mann, Sukhvinder Singh, Pawan Kharbanda, Mohan Pal Singh and Gursaran Kaur Randhawa.
Those appointed general secretaries include Bikram Singh Mofar, Karanbir Singh Brar, Amarjit Kaur, Aman Arora, Jasbir Kumar Jonny, Akshay Bhanot and Rajnish Garg.
The secretaries include Satbir Singh Hundal, Amrinder Singh Sandhu, Rajesh Sharma, Arshi Dhalla, Simar Darshan Kaur, Manpreet Kaur, Harmanjit Kaur, Satish, Mangal Ram Chayal and Saroj Arora.
The IYC has given the stipulated 33 per cent reservation to women in appointing the office-bearers. IYC sources said changes were in the offing to replace PYC chiefs in Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
