Bajwa slams Amarinder; backs Rahul's elevation

The war of words within Congress over Rahul Gandhi's elevation today saw party's Punjab unit chief Partap Singh Bajwa lashing out at Amarinder Singh, saying generational change could not be "stymied at gun point" as he was trying to do.
Taking on his bete noire Amarinder who had backed Sonia Gandhi as the party president, Bajwa said it was a calibrated design to scuttle the elevation of Rahul Gandhi as party president.
Rahul Gandhi will re-invigorate the party and take on the radical and regressive forces head on that are trying to turn back the wheels of history, Bajwa said here in a statement.

Singh had yesterday said that the leadership should remain with Sonia Gandhi as a generational change cannot be done with a knife.
Bajwa today said "Sonia Gandhi (Congress chairperson) is our most revered and respected leader who will continue to be the guiding force while Rahul Gandhi (Congress vice president) would initiate the drive to mobilise all sections of society and the youths in particular to meet the new challenges and attune the oldest political organisation in the country accordingly."
"Generational change is part of the evolutionary process and the Congress party has adhered to it from time to time," he added.

Taking strong objection to Amarinder's reported remarks that one could not make a generational change with a knife and cut them through, he maintained the same could not be stymied at gun point as Amarinder was trying to do, claiming that this was the fourth such attempt by him during the past fortnight to derail Rahul Gandhi's ascendancy.

He reminded the former chief minister that Rahul Gandhi had been in Lok Sabha for long enough to gain experience and is well versed with the challenges faced by contemporary India.
Moreover, he must remember that Bill Clinton took over as US President at the age of 46 and Barrack Obama at 47, Bajwa said. Similarly, David Cameron was elected Prime Minister of England at 43 and the list of such international leaders is endless, he claimed.

He recalled Amarinder had not even completed his apprenticeship in the Congress when he re-joined the party in 1998 after having remained in the Akali Dal for fourteen years and was elevated as the state party President within four months thereafter.