 "Congress taunts 'unnatural' PDP-BJP alliance")
The Congress central leadership either suffers from a death-wish or there is an orchestrated campaign to ensure the defeat of its Punjab unit chief Captain Amarinder Singh.
Little else would explain why Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her closest advisers would appoint Asha Kumari as the party's in-charge for the Punjab assembly poll campaign. She was convicted in February on charges of land grabbing. The elections are due by February and the Congress plank has been the corruption of the 10-year rule of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and son, also Deputy CM, Sukhbir-led Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition.
The decision to appoint Kumari comes about a week after senior Congress leader Kamal Nath quit the post. Nath resigned after people pointed out to his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom. Nath's defence -- he claimed that he had helped Sikhs who were in distress and that none of the commissions into the killing of the Sikhs had convicted him -- didn't wash with those who claimed to know the events of end-October 1984.
Nath was expected to iron out the rough spots in the party's preparations, including the lack of trust between Congress state unit chief Amarinder Singh and strategist Prashant Kishor. Nath's successor is Kumari, appointed to the job on Sunday. Just like Amarinder Singh, Kumari also hails from a royal family. She is married to Brijender Singh, related to Congress leader and Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh. She was convicted in February in a land grab case and is currently out on bail. She was accused of transferring 60 bighas of forest land in the name of her husband nearly two decades back. Kumari is a former education minister.
In Punjab, the Congress is looking at making a return to power in the assembly polls due by February next year. The Shiromani Akali Dal – BJP government has ruled Punjab for nearly 10 years – having won two successive assembly elections in 2007 and 2012, which is a record. But there are allegations of corruption against the Parkash Singh Badal government as well as of doing little to curb the drug menace.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is emerging as a significant force, only the Congress has a well known Jat Sikh leader in Amarinder Singh to counter the popularity of the Badals. But the Congress decision making in appointing in-charge for the Punjab unit has betrayed a muddled strategy that can only be marvelled at.
The appointments – first of Nath and now Kumari – as in-charges for Punjab election has got Congress much publicity, but of the wrong kind. The controversies are likely to erode the Congress support base as well as of those of the voters who are looking for a change.
In her defence, the new Congress in-charge has said that the land grab case is stayed in the Punjab High Court. But the appointment has given the BJP an opportunity to distract from the alleged ills of the Badal government and point fingers at the Congress. "No wonder ,Ms Sonia Gandhi & Mr Rahul Gandhi, both of whom are out on BAIL, have Zeroed in, on Ms Asha Kumari who's also out on BAIL !" tweeted BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra.
