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Punjab CLP meeting ends in a slanging match
Naveen S Garewal/TNS

Chandigarh, May 29
It was expected to be a routine affair. But the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting today witnessed a high drama with leaders accusing each other of undermining the party.

The meeting was called to chalk out strategy for the ensuing civic polls. Sidelining the agenda, Congress legislators targeted each other for holding frequent meetings with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to seek developmental funds for their constituencies.

Much to the dismay of senior leaders, legislators cast aspersions on party colleagues and accused them of hob-knobbing with the Chief Minister and deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. This group also accused fellow legislators of crossing the “Lakshman Rekha” and wanted to bring in a resolution that would bar Congress MLAs from meeting the CM. But a majority of legislators were against the move.

Apart from the civic body elections, the CLP meeting was expected to discuss the issue of seeking Rs 100 per quintal bonus on wheat and ask the state and Central governments to reduce petrol prices. But amid chaos, no decision could be taken.

It started with Sukhjinder Randhawa who took a strong exception to Congress legislators’ interaction with SAD-BJP MLAs. Reacting sharply, Ashwani Sikri and Parminder Singh Pinki said they had met the Chief Minister to seek developmental funds for their constituencies. Sikri said he had received Rs 11 crore for Batala. At this, Rana Gurjit intervened and said when Congress workers were being subjected to political vendetta, it was wrong for legislators to meet the Badals. It led to heated exchange of words among the members.

Laal Singh tried his best to calm tempers, but to no avail. CLP leader Sunil Jakhar said the meeting had been called for a specific purpose and levelling of charges and counter-charges was not serving the purpose. Brham Mohindra said the attempts of younger legislators like Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra, Pinki, and Gurkirat Singh had been appreciated by the people, as they had gone to meet Badal Senior in his capacity of being the Chief Minister and not seek any personal favours.

The absence of Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh and former CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal from the meeting was conspicuous. Both Amarinder and Bhattal came under a sharp attack for not attending the proceedings. In the absence of the state Congress chief, no decision was taken on the allocation of work for the two-phase civic elections, which begin on June 7.