Agencies
NEW DELHI: Sunil Jakhar, the most prominent Hindu face of the Congress Party in Punjab, has hit out at feuding state Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Pradesh Congress chief Navjot Sidhu, calling them `recent imports’ into the party.
“Both Sidhu and Channi are fighting for the Chief Minister post only. The fight is not about the AG or DGP, it’s about who will be the next CM of Punjab. People understand it well,” Jakhar has said in an interview to Outlook.
Sunil Jakhar, who was the president of the Punjab Congress before Navjot Sidhu took over from him six months ago, slammed Sidhu and Channi for issuing no advertisements on the death anniversary of Mrs Indira Gandhi on Oct 31.
Jakhar said not mourning Mrs Gandhi’s death by issuing advertisements “wasn’t an inadvertent omission or oversight by the Punjab Congress or the government. It was a deliberate attempt to appease certain fundamental elements in society. This was done by people who head the government and the Congress party. Both Channi and Sidhu are recent imports for the party. They are not ‘organic’ party men.”
He said Sidhu and Channi should apologize for their mistake.
“If you shy away from acknowledging Mrs. Gandhi, then you have no reason to head a party or a government.”
Criticizing his party for appointing anti-Sikh riots accused Jagdish Tytler to the Congress Working Committe, Jakhar said, “I feel that the appointment was totally avoidable. There was no need to give opposition parties a handle. This will unnecessarily rake up issues which are long forgotten by people.”
Tyler is accused of his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her two Sikh security guards.
About former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh forming a new party, he said, “Captain Saab is being led by his coterie on a wrong path. It’s not doing any good to him.”
Jakhar also took a dig at the Punjab Aam Aadmi Party, calling it “a headless party at the moment. Arvind Kejriwal, who is a national co- ordinator does not acknowledge unit chief Bhagwant Mann as the CM face. AAP should put an advertisement in OLX website that they need a Chief Minister candidate for Punjab.”
