NEW DELHI: The Congress has announced its core team for Punjab ahead of next year’s Assembly election. While the party has retained its state president and Leader of Opposition, a host of new appointments have been made to election-related committees.
But an old hand is missing – Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari.
Tewari noted that he has earlier been an MP from Ludhiana and Anandpur Sahib in Punjab.
Left out of the playing XI, the upset senior leader took to social media and wrote, “Being skilled is itself a big flaw… I wish I had a way to cure people’s insecurities!”
Tewari added: “The Congress has given me a lot in the past 45 years and I too have devoted my life to the service of the party. Who can avoid destiny… Whatever has to happen, will happen.”
Congress sources, however, said Tewari was not included in the Punjab team as he is the Chandigarh MP, which is outside Punjab.
He was among the 23 senior Congress leaders, called the “G-23”, who wrote a landmark letter to then party president Sonia Gandhi in August 2020 seeking sweeping organisational changes.
Tewari’s post on Thursday came a day after the Congress announced a new organisational structure for Punjab, appointing chairpersons for key election-related committees and three working presidents, while assigning no organisational responsibility to Tewari.
According to sources, several leaders, including Charanjit Singh Channi, are also upset with the decision to retain Amarinder Singh Raja Warring as Punjab Congress president.
Under the new structure, Charanjit Singh Channi will head the Campaign Committee, while Vijay Inder Singla will chair the Election Management and Coordination Committee. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has been appointed chairperson of the Core Committee and Amar Singh will head the Manifesto Committee.
The party also retained Amarinder Singh Raja Warring as president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and Pratap Singh Bajwa as Leader of the Congress Legislature Party. In addition, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Raj Kumar Verka and Sangat Singh Gilzian have been appointed working presidents of the Punjab Congress.
