Chandigarh/Ludhiana, March 7
Dealing a blow to the Congress in Punjab, its two senior leaders today quit the party and joined the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Talwandi Sabo Congress MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh and former minister Malkiat Singh Birmi joined the SAD in the presence of party president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Jeet Mohinder Singh said Punjab Pradesh Congress (PPC) president Partap Singh Bajwa was autocratic and indecisive. He submitted his resignation to the Speaker today. Birmi said the Punjab Congress was a rudderless ship with an indecisive captain at the helm. With Bajwa repeatedly ignoring senior party leaders, he was left with no choice but to quit, he said. Sitting alongside Sukhbir Badal and other senior Akali leaders and ministers, Jeet Mohinder Singh

said the Congress was on a suicidal path under Partap Singh Bajwa. “Bajwa’s decision to join hands with Manpreet Badal’s People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) and to support him in the Lok Sabha elections from the Bathinda parliamentary constituency was the last nail in the coffin,” he said.

“In the Vidhan Sabha elections, the Congress lost many seats as the PPP played the spoilsport. Now, without consulting any Congress leader, Bajwa is supporting Manpreet. How can Congress workers in Bathinda be asked to support Manpreet now,” he said. It was against this betrayal by Bajwa that he was resigning, he said. Birmi said he decided to quit the Congress because despite being in the party for 27 years, he was feeling ignored under Bajwa’s leadership. “At least the SAD acknowledges its leaders and gives them due respect,” he said.

In January, Birmi had quit the PPCC executive. He said he had sent a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying the new PPCC list “smacked of lack of foresight” on part of the Punjab Congress leadership.