Chandigarh: Former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh was appointed as the chief of the Congress party in the state. Earlier, Partap Singh Bajwa has resigned as Punjab Congress chief to make way for Amarinder Singh. Amarinder is the party's lawmaker from Amritsar and its deputy leader from Lok Sabha. Bajwa was forced to resign as majority of the MLAs rallied behind Amrinder. Amarinder had not only openly challenged the authority of Bajwa, an appointee of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, through parallel show of strengths but had also been vociferous in demanding his ouster.
The change comes ahead of assembly polls in the state, due in 2017. Over the last few months, Rahul Gandhi held a series of meetings to discuss how best to prepare the party for the elections.
In the last Assembly polls, the party had projected Amarinder Singh as its chief ministerial candidate. The Congress, however, failed to win and the "overconfidence" of Singh was considered one of the key reasons for the debacle. But with a running feud between Amarinder Singh and Bajwa, party unity was crucial for the Congress. The leaders had put up a united face during Rahul's recent visits.
Last week, Gandhi led a delegation of party leaders from Punjab, including the Captain and Bajwa, to President Pranab Mukherjee to project unity in the state unit.
