Punjab: Ex-Congress leaders' 'ghar wapsi' may take some more time

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, October 15

The formal ‘ghar wapsi’ of former Congress leaders, who had joined the BJP last year, may take a few days.

Back-end efforts to mollify the annoyed leaders have begun on the instructions of the party high command. It is learnt that Punjab Congress leaders have been told to analyse different permutations and combinations to adjust them by taking the senior leadership in confidence.

Last evening, a meeting was organised by Leader of the Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa at his residence in which party leaders and the former Congress leaders, who had met AICC general secretary in Delhi on Friday, were present. PPCC chief Amrinder Raja Warring did not attend the meeting as he was still in Delhi.

Sources said a meeting on the sidelines of the two-day Vidhan Sabha session had been planned on October 20 and 21. Not all former leaders would rejoin the Congress as there were issues with them. In Malwa, some Congress leaders raised objection to joining of former Akali leader Jeet Mohinder Sidhu and former Congress MLA Amrik Singh Dhillon and former minister Sunder Sham Arora.

On Friday, there was stiff opposition from different quarters within the Congress that delayed the return of former Congress leaders. The leaders were told to join in Chandigarh.

Among the leaders who had landed in Delhi included former Cabinet ministers Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Sunder Sham Arora, Gurpreet Kangar, Balbir Sidhu, Hans Raj Josan, besides Amrik Singh Dhillon and Dr Mohinder Rinwa. While Verka, Arora, Kangar and Sidhu had joined the BJP, Dr Rinwa and Josan had joined SAD.

Former ministers who want to rejoin party

Those who want to rejoin the party include former Cabinet ministers Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Sunder Sham Arora, Gurpreet Kangar, Balbir Sidhu, Hans Raj Josan, besides Amrik Singh Dhillon and Dr Mohinder Rinwa. While Verka, Arora, Kangar and Sidhu had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, Dr Rinwa and Josan the Shiromani Akali Dal