The absence of former Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and his son from the party's first meeting in his home town here was conspicuous enough to expose the rift within the party, as senior leaders of the party questioned his absence.
The meeting was called to welcome new Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa in Paitala.
Senior Congress leader Laal Singh questioned the absence of Amarinder and his son.
Speaking at the occasion, Singh, once a close confidante of Amarinder, said, "It is our duty to keep party united, but the meeting has been organised at Patiala and the Assembly segment represented by Amarinder is not present".
"It was his (Amarinder's) duty to be here alongwith his son Raninder Singh, who had unsuccessfully contested the neighbouring constituency of Samana," he said.
Singh, however, said when he called him (Amarinder) as he was away to Delhi, the former party chief told him that "he was not invited for today's meet".
Meanwhile, pointing finger towards Preneet Kaur, local MP and wife of Amarinder, who was present at the dais alongwith PCC chief Bajwa, Singh questioned,"Maharani Sahiba you are the in-charge of this workers meet and it was your duty to inform and invite Amarinder about it".
Singh said that Congress workers would get a "wrong signal from it that the party was divided".
On the defeat of Congress in the Punjab polls, when Amarinder was at the helm of affairs, Singh said that even though the party has been experiencing hardship due to "mistakes" of Amarinder, we cannot ignore him by not informing about the meeting.
Later, Bajwa and Punjab Congress vice president Charanjeet Singh Channi, who is also in-charge for Patiala zone, said that Amarinder was informed much earlier about the meeting.
Channi said that he himself informed Amarinder about the visit of Bajwa and workers meet.
