Congress versus Congress in Punjab

A six-year-old case of alleged desecration of Guru Grant Sahib has brought fissures in the Punjab Congress to the fore ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

Rival camps led by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and his key detractor Navjyot Singh Sidhu have engaged in a war of words over the ‘sacrilege’ case which could dent the party’s prospects next year.

Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed a Punjab government investigation into the 2015 incident when several pages of Guru Granth Sahib were found strewn in Bargari village, triggering protests across the state.

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Police opened fire on the protesters in Kotkapura village killing two, spelling trouble for the then Akali Dal government led by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Trouble for Amarinder began after the High Court quashed the investigation by the SIT last month, prompting his detractors to accuse him of favouring the Badals of the Akali Dal.

Sidhu fired the first salvo against Amarinder for agreeing to accept the High Court order and constitute a fresh SIT to probe the sacrilege case.

“Consensus among MLAs, Badal Sarkar is ruling in lieu of Congress Govt ...Bureaucracy and Police act as per wishes of Badal Family, more often than listening to our MLAs and Party workers,” Sidhu had said.

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Reopening of vigilance cases against Sidhu and claims by Indian hockey captain-turned-Congress MLA Pargat Singh of threats from the chief minister’s adviser have thrown the Punjab Congress into turmoil.

“This continuous attempt to browbeat Congress MLAs for raising their voice must stop,” former Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa said, adding that he would have been pleased had the vigilance officers questioned Badals instead of Sidhu.

AICC spokesperson Supriya Shrinate dismissed the unrest in the Punjab Congress as “diversity of opinion” and “minor bickering” and expressed the hope that the Chief Minister would handle the situation.

“There is a chief minister there, he will take care,” Shrinate told reporters on Tuesday adding that the differences would have been an issue for the party had it affected the Covid-19 management efforts in the state.