New Delhi: Dealing a major blow to the grand old party, former Punjab Congress Chief Sunil Jakhar on Saturday announced snapping ties with the party. For days, speculations were rife about him exiting the party over discord with top leadership.
Today, Jakhar did a Facebook LIVE & connected with people via ‘dil ki baat’. Prior to going live, he dropped Congress from his social media accounts and removed all references to the party.
First, he removed the party from his Twitter bio and then replaced the party flag with Tricolour as the background image.
Jakhar has been critical of the party high command over its botched handling of party affairs in the state. From ignominious ouster of Captain Amarinder Singh to appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi as state chief minister, he openly rebuked the party leadership for ‘lopsided’ decision making.
Jakhar has been upset with the party for quite sometime, however, disciplinary action against him proved to be his last straw.
A fortnight ago, the party removed him from all party posts for two years, on the recommendation of the disciplinary action committee. Since then, Jakhad was understood to be considering his political options.
Jakhar’s exit from the party comes at a time when the party is holding 3-day Chintan Shivir to prepare a roadmap for reinvigorating & giving a fresh impetus to the party, whose fortunes are on a constant downward spiral.
In Punjab, Congress govt not only got dislodged from power but also its state unit is in disarray. Political watchers blame it on the poor handling of party affairs by top leadership and also ‘incompetent’ in-charge of the state. Veteran Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh was shown the door in humiliating manner while former party president Navjot Sidhu makes no bones about calling out what’s wrong in the state unit.
