Capt Amarinder faces strong opposition from within party for giving tickets to turncoats

CHANDIGARH : Punjab Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh is facing strong opposition from within party for giving party tickets for 2017 assembly elections to the leaders from other parties recently joined Congress.
Capt Amarinder Singh is though trying to justify giving party tickets to turncoats but former PPCC president and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa and other MP Shamsher Singh Dullo have made it clear that they would take up the issue with the party high command and turncoats cant be preferred over sincere party leaders.
Capt Amarinder Singh said that this was a common occurrence in all parties to give tickets to new entrants, with the Congress also having done it on earlier occasions.
Captain Amarinder made it clear that the prerogative of allocating tickets for the forthcoming Assembly elections was of Congress national president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi.Bajwa and Dullo had raised the issue of turncoats in meeting of state election committee held yesterday. It is belived that Capt Amarinder Singh had recommended the names of former SAD MLAs Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Avinash Chander and Amritssar legislature Inderbir Singh Bolaria and an offer has also been extended to Pargat Singh former Hockey captain and former Akali MLA from Jalandhar cantt.
Dullo also raided the issue of certain former MLAs who ditched the party. He said that they cant allow Congress become Akali Dal. He referred to Amarinder loyalists Arvind Khanna, Joginerpal Jain and Jeet Mohinder Singh who resigned from Congress and contested on SAD tickets to ditch the party.
Bajwa and Dullo also opposed entry of Phillaur who was not given tickket by SAD for his links with the drug mafia. They said that name of another SAD MLA Avinash Chander also figured in the Enforcement Directorate list of accused in Hawala case of drugs.
Earlier Bajwa and Dullo had also demanded one family one ticket principal without any exception. There were news that Capt Amarinder Singh had offerred party ticekt to Bains brothers MLAa from Ludhiana and also Navjot Sidhu and his MLA wife. Some of the senior SAD leaders were also pressing upon Amarinder to adjust their wards.
Susequently, Captain Amarinder assured that no sitting MLA would be deprived of a ticket but asserted that the ‘one family, one seat’ rule would be stringently followed, without exception.To a question on the Bains brothers joining Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Captain Amarinder denied that the Punjab Congress had been in talks to rope them into the party, and added that he had only met one of the brothers about six months ago, with no further contact thereafter.