Pargat Singh, former India hockey captain, Olympian, outstanding sportsman and three-time MLA has been appointed as the president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, in place of Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who submitted his resignation on Friday.
Interestingly, the exit of Amarinder, five months ahead of the Assembly polls, like his more illustrious namesake before the 2022 elections, also coincides with the grand old party appointing a new captain, who is now expected to deliver at this crucial juncture.
This columnist had predicted on September 13th, after Sachin Pilot took over as the general secretary in-charge of the border state, replacing Bhupesh Baghel, that Raja Warring’s days as the president were numbered. Otherwise, there would have been no logic in changing the general secretary, if the president was also not simultaneously replaced, and if the Congress wished to end factionalism to move forward.
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Pargat’s selection makes it evident that the Congress high command is seriously trying to put its act together, and appears to have made the correct choice, in order to bring the party back as the main challenger to the Aam Aadmi Party government. While it shall not be easy to wrest control of the state from Bhagwant Mann, who continues to enjoy the pole position, Pargat is viewed in Punjab politics as someone who is rooted to the ground, and does not belong to any faction of the party.
There was speculation till yesterday that Vijay Inder Singla, a close associate of Rahul Gandhi could take over the reins, but the high command decided to field a Jat Sikh as the spearhead, keeping in view his acceptability as also to neutralize the feud that had broken out between Raja Warring and former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, whose supporters wished him to be projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate, particularly because all other major players from each party happen to be Jat Sikhs.
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