Hours after announcing the expulsion of former Congress MLA Arvind Khanna from the party, Punjab Congress Chief Partap Singh Bajwa tonight said there was "some communication gap" and it was the "prerogative of the high command" to take action against the ex-legislator.
"The prerogative to take any action against former MLA Arvind Khanna is vested in the party high command as he was a member of the AICC," Bajwa said in a late night statement issued here.
Further clarifying on the issue, Bajwa said that it was due to "some communication gap" that he got the impression that Khanna had been expelled from the party for six years.
Earlier in the day, Bajwa said that Khanna had been expelled from the party for six years for resigning from the Assembly "without taking state or central party leadership into confidence" thus "forcing" a bypoll on the people in Dhuri constituency.
Bajwa was talking to reporters here on the sidelines of 10th death anniversary of Sant Ram Singla, father of former Sangrur Congress MP Vijay Inder Singla.
Bajwa accused Khanna of being hand-in-glove with Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and entering into a deal that he would be elevated to Rajya Sabha in 2016.
Khanna, a close confidant of senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh, won the Assembly elections in 2002 and 2012.
He made his debut in the state Assembly from Sangrur after winning the seat in 2002 by a record margin of over 17,000 votes and then Dhuri seat in 2012 by about 12,500 votes. He didn't contest in 2007 elections.
The bypoll was necessitated after Khanna resigned from the Assembly in January.
