Punjabi leaders in Haryana Congress seek due representation

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, March 19

With the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections due next year, the Punjabi leaders in the Congress have started seeking due representation for the community in the party organisation as well as in the elections.

A delegation of community leaders led by Ashok Mehta, national president of the Rashtriya Punjabi Mahasabha, met Haryana Congress in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil to raise their concerns and claimed that the community was being ignored in the party.

A community leader said: “The Punjabi community had been a core vote bank of the Congress and the party had also given due respect to the community in its organisation as well as the previous governments. But, over the past few years, the representation of the community in the Congress was going down and it was a big reason behind the resentment and member of the community inclining towards the BJP. However, they intend to come back to the Congress. But for that, the party must give due representation to the community and its leaders.” The mahasabha in a representation to Shaktisinh Gohil claimed that Punjabi community is 32 per cent of the state’s population, but was not getting the due representation in the organisation as well as in elections. As a result, the BJP won and the Congress lost so many Punjabi dominating seats in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Mahasahba’s national president Ashok Mehta, who is also a former state information commissioner in Haryana, said: “We have met Shaktisinh Gohil and have apprised him of the ground realities and requested him to consider the issues of the community. He has assured us to raise the concerns with the party high command, and we have also decided to meet party president Mallikarjun Kharge over this issue. We will raise our demand on every platform in the party.”