Ashu quits as PPCC working chief

The defeat of the Congress in the Ludhiana bypoll threatens to vertically split the party in the state, as its candidate Bharat Bhsuhan Ashu resigned as working President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC).

As the final verdict on AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora’s victory over Ashu by a margin of 10,637 votes was out, the latter resigned on “moral grounds”. “As I had told my chosen team from the party high command to manage my campaign, I take the responsibility for the defeat,” he said.

Given the fact that Ashu had categorically urged the party high command that the PPCC Chief Amrinder Singh Raj Warring and the CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa should not campaign for him due to his differences with the two top leaders, there was more to the resignation that was indicative of the deepening fault lines in the party plagued by infighting.

“The campaign for the Ludhiana by-election was run by a pressure group of senior leaders like former CM Charanjit Singh Channi, MLAs Rana Gurjeet Singh and Pargat Singh, former MLA Khushaldeep Singh Dhillon, while keeping the group led by PPCC Chief and CLP leader out of the campaign,” said a senior leader.

Taking the fight against the top PPCC chief and CLP leader further, more leaders in the PPCC body, who owe their allegiance to the pressure group, are likely to tender their resignations from positions in the state party unit.

The high command and the AICC General Secretary in charge Bhupesh Baghel would be calling a meeting of the state unit leaders in the coming days as they had already been cautioned that the faction-fighting resulted in a “self-goal” by the party leaders, who were seen blaming each other for derailing the campaign of Ashu.

While the Warring camp said the defeat of Ashu had punctured the ego of the rival group leaders who were challenging the authority of the PPCC chief, the rival group leaders claimed the top leadership did everything to derail Ashu’s campaign. Meanwhile, after the bypoll results, allegations and counter-allegations flew thick and fast. Refusing to comment on the infighting, Warring said “Party workers in Ludhiana West put up the best fight against all odds when it was against the entire government machinery. This, after all, was just a by-election. Our fight will continue and we will take it to the logical conclusion in 2027. We will also do a serious in-house introspection as we believe we could have done much better.”

Punjab