Chandigarh: Pawan Kumar Bansal, HS Lucky supporters’ face-off disrupts Congress meet

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, March 27

In an embarrassment to the Congress, supporters of its city unit president HS Lucky and former MP Pawan Kumar Bansal had a verbal spat while raising slogans in favour of their respective leaders when party incharge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu were on the dais during a meeting at Congress Bhawan in Sector 35 here today.

Tempers ran high when party leader Hafiz Anwar Ul Haq angrily replied to the city Congress chief’s appeal to calm down. Some supporters had a heated exchange as the meeting was disrupted. However, they were pacified with the intervention of all those present in the meeting.

It all started when Shukla, Shuku, Bansal and Lucky arrived on the dais. Some workers started raising slogans in Lucky’s favour. Later, Bansal’s supporters also raised slogans in his favour. Things went out of control for the party as all those present there stood on their chairs and started arguing with each other. So much so that they did not bother about appeals of the city Congress president and Bansal to calm down.

Even Shukla had to intervene. He later addressed them and clarified that he had not come to the party office to decide about the candidate for the Lok Sabha from Chandigarh.

Today’s incident brought the infighting within the party in the open. Both Bansal as well as Lucky are in the race for the party ticket for the Chandigarh seat. Theirs as well as Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari’s names have already been shortlisted by the Congress Central Election Committee for the ticket.

According to sources, Lucky was close to Bansal earlier, but since the city Congress president also threw his hat in the ring for the party ticket, the relations between the two turned sour. Lucky is also said to have told the committee that the party should have a fresh face this time, which was not liked by the Bansal camp.

Meanwhile, Lucky said, “There was no fight today. It was just that overenthusiastic supporters of both of us raised slogans. They later stopped and the meeting was held in a conducive atmosphere. There is no infighting. Whosoever the party decides as its candidate, we all will work together for that nominee’s victory.”