congress: Sunil Jakhar’s pole-vault shows loyalty quotient in Congress can’t be one-way obligation

Quickly after Sunil Jakhar joined the BJP, the Congress had referred to as the transfer political and ideological opportunism and accused him of getting helped the saffron get together throughout the meeting elections. But, many within the Congress additionally say it’s a case of the Congress management reaping what it sowed – committing ideological digression by foisting a convert from the BJP, Navjot Singh Sidhu, as PCC president over a complete bench of conventional Congress leaders after which denying Jakhar the CM’s submit regardless of majority of the Congress MLAs preferring him – after Captain Amarinder Singh was made to give up – solely to repackage a fourth choice-cum-neo Congress man Charanjit Singh Channi to market him as a “Dalit CM” solely to see the get together struggling its worst defeat.

“Not sudden. Sunil Jakhar could have formally joined the BJP. He had began working for the get together lengthy earlier than, enjoying blatantly Hindutva politics, damaging the get together in each method. There was a motive for him to rake up the ‘Hindu’ card and the rationale was revealed at this time,” stated newly appointed PCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.

The ‘Hindu’ card he referred to was Jakhar’s feedback pre-assembly polls that he by no means felt he can be discriminated within the Congress on spiritual floor when he was denied the CM’s submit regardless of the backing of a majority MLAs with Ambika Soni publicly stating that solely a Sikh ought to turn into the CM in Punjab. Channi although, by no means an authentic Congressman, finally emerged because the “Dalit CM” solely after two Jat Sikhs – Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa – cancelled every others’ chief ministerial pitch.

The AICC ignoring Sidhu’s mid-poll tantrums and singling out Jakhar for motion regardless of his seniority, proved to be the final straw for the latter. Thus, if the disastrous aftermath of the botched-up Punjab operation that Rahul-Priyanka executed not solely smashed any probability of the Congress retaining energy, its aftermath continues to indicate how the get together is dropping its greatest model names – Captain Amarinder Singh, Jakhar – the clans the Punjab Congress has all the time been synonymous with. This as soon as once more reveals that ‘the loyalty quotient’ within the Congress cannot be a ‘one-way obligation’ or else the regional satraps will not even suppose twice earlier than dumping the Gandhis. In Kerala, KV Thomas confirmed the identical final week.

After its Punjab defeat, the Punjab BJP is now determinedly making an attempt to bounce again by catching huge names from the Congress with potential for social base enlargement with an eye fixed on the 2024 LS polls whereas the Congress management remains to be groping in the dead of night post-polls.