After senior Congress leader Harish Rawat accused senior Congress leader and former Union minister Manish Tewari of not understanding the ground realities in Punjab, Tewari hit back at Rawat saying he had never seen such chaos in Punjab Congress.
Till Friday (October 22), former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat was AICC in-charge of Punjab.
In an interview with the Indian Express, which was published on Sunday (October 24), Rawat said, “Manish Tewariji is a very senior leader of ours, very capable, intelligent. I have great affection for him. But he should understand the ground situation in Punjab. It is not just a matter of security, but also of continuance of a government. When the MLAs are revolting, the stability of the government is threatened… The honourable CM (Singh) had seldom called a CLP meeting, or addressed these issues with his MLAs.”
In an interview with The Indian Express on September 30, Manish Tewari had accused the AICC leadership and AICC in-charge of Punjab (read Harish Rawat) of mishandling the affairs in Punjab.
Tewari had said, “Unfortunately, it didn’t get appreciated by those in the AICC leadership. From May of 2021, Punjab entered into a spectre of instability which was completely unnecessary and people who are in charge of the state government never perhaps appreciated the sensitivity of handling of a border state, which has an overhang of extremism and terrorism.”
In a series of tweets, Tewari posted “1. Respected @harishrawatcmuk ji, Since you referred to me in this interview Down pointing backhand index I also have great regard & respect for you going back to days when I headed @nsui & you @CongressSevadal. However in my 40 years plus in @INCIndia, I have never seen such chaos
2. & anarchy as what is playing out in @INCPunjab today. Repeated open defiance of AICC by a PCC President, colleagues squabbling publicly with each other like children. Guttural language against each other that even fish wives would not use. For the past 5 months it is @INCPunjab
3. vs @INCPunjab. Do we think that people of Punjab are not disgusted by this daily soap opera?Irony is that those who complained loudest of transgressions & aberrations were unfortunately & continue to be worst offenders themselves. History would record that the appointment of
4. the Committee that ostensibly heard perceived & real grievances was a serious error of judgement. Where is progress on the issues that agitated these MLA’s & other eminences- Bargari, Drugs, Power PPA’s, illegal sand mining. Has there been any movement forward…….”
Tewari is a member of the ‘G-23’ (Group of 23 senior Congress leaders) who wrote a letter to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi last year demanding organizational elections.
The infighting in Punjab Congress culminated into the resignation of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in September this year and elevation of Navjot Singh Sidhu as Punjab Congress Committee chief.
It was expected that the issue has been resolved.
But, soon after, Navjot Singh Sidhu, unhappy with the state of affairs in Punjab Congress, resigned as PCC chief. Although, he took back his resignation immediately.
Former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh announced this week that he would float a new party and could possibly join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) if an amicable solution to farmers’ issues was found.
Punjab is going to witness assembly elections in next four-five months.
