Punjab a new headache for Congress amid Rajasthan crisis

New Delhi: With crisis still looming large in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Congress is now facing a tough time to contain the feud in Punjab where two Rajya Sabha MPs — Partap Singh Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo — have openly targeted the state government led by Amarinder Singh.

Though the infighting between the two triggers close on the heels of the recent hooch tragedy which has killed over 100 people in the state, the differences between Bajwa and Amarindr Singh exists since 2013 when Bajwa replaced Amarinder after two consecutive losses in the polls.

Bajwa and Dullo have approached the Governor demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or Enforcement Department (ED) probe into the hooch tragedy.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “The MPs have raised some issues and it’s unfortunate that hard words were used from both the sides, but the Chief Minister has said that he will take strict action against the culprits.”

The Punjab government has withdrawn the security of Partap Singh Bajwa, to which Bajwa has responded saying “security is given to a person for protection of his life and should not be a tool to browbeat into submission. In any case, this trick will not work with me”.

Bajwa said that his father was martyred and he himself had survived an attack in 1990.

The feud between Amarinder Singh and Bajwa is a new headache for the Congress amid the political crisis in Rajasthan.