Resignations in Panjab INC; AAP Sacks Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh

A day after the Indian National Congress (INC) lost the Ludhiana West Assembly by-poll, on 25 Jun, senior leaders Pargat Singh and Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon quit as the state unit vice-presidents. Both have sought a collective introspection for the by-poll debacle and stressed the need for restructuring of the state unit. On the day of the result, INC candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu had resigned as the working president of the party’s state unit. During the campaign Ashu had asked the party high command that Panjab INC president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Leader of Opposition in state Legislative Assembly Pratap Singh Bajwa should not campaign for him due to his differences with the two top leaders. The resignations are indicative of the deepening fault lines in Panjab INC. The party has accepted all the resignations. A section of INC leaders believe INC state in-charge Bhupesh Baghel is unable to engage the state leadership towards a united goal. Meanwhile, days after the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Member of Legislative Assembly from Amritsar North, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, opposed the arrest of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case, the party’s political affairs committee suspended him from the party for five years. Kunwar Vijay said he may have had political disagreements or ideological differences with Majithia, but when it came to principles, religion, and integrity, one should speak out. Kunwar Vijay was earlier in the Indian Police Service. He was the chief of the Special Investigation Team formed to investigate the firing incidents in Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in 2015 after the first case of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh scripture). As an MLA he has earlier publicly disagreed with some of the AAP government decisions. Also, AAP has given a clean chit to former health minister Vijay Singla in a corruption case. In 2022, AAP had fired Singla to keep up its anti-corruption image. In other news, Tarn Taran AAP MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal died at a hospital in Amritsar on 27 Jun after battling cancer (earlier coverage).