Bhattal camp skips Raninder’s meeting

Bhattal camp skips Raninder’s meeting
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 10

Factionalism among the state Congress today resurfaced during a party meeting addressed by Raninder Singh, general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), here.
It was Raninder’s first visit to the Bathinda parliamentary constituency after losing the Lok Sabha seat to Harsimrat Kaur Badal. He addressed a gathering of party workers but local MLA Harminder Singh Jassi, who is said to be close to Rajinder Kaur Bhattal faction in the Congress, did not attend the meeting. The Bhattal camp is known to be at loggerheads with Raninder’s father Capt Amarinder Singh.
It was not just Jassi who skipped the meeting but his core group, including district Congress (urban) president Ashok Kumar and PPCC secretary Tehal Singh Sandhu, were also absent. Later, Raninder held a press meet at the Circuit House where absence of the Jassi group fuelled speculations.
Replying to a query, Raninder said: “They were busy with their engagements, they were allowed to discharge their personal responsibilities.”
He added that he had come to the constituency to thank his supporters, who had voted in his favour.
On visiting the constituency so late, he said: “Earlier, the temperature was soaring high, which would not have suited my supporters. Moreover, they were busy in planting paddy and cotton at that time.”
Recalling the result of the polls, he claimed not only to have retained the Congress vote bank but also consolidated it but with some shift. On losing the Bathinda seat, he termed it to be an outcome of reasons that went beyond politics.