Rift in Punjab Cong after assembly poll debacle

Dissidence in Congress in Punjab came to the fore in the wake of the party's debacle in the assembly polls with a former stat unit chief on Wednesday demanding an emergency meeting of the PCC to go into the causes.

In a statement, Virendra Kataria, former MP, said that PCC chief Amarinder Singh should call such a meeting as Punjab was the "most winnable state" for the party which has witnessed a "humiliating defeat".

Wondering as to how the state leadership "squandered victory assets" of the Punjab Congress, he apprehended that if such a meeting is not held then the PCC president will only offer to the party high command the explanation of defeat "rather than an account of individual lapses".

"Let the Congress president be apprised by the entire Punjab Congress instead of a Congress defeat report prepared by the PCC chief only," he said.

In Punjab, Congress wanted to ride the anti-incumbency wave but was handed down a shock defeat by the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP.

The defeat in Punjab was a setback for the party as the leadership had gone to the extent of declaring senior leader Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate, something rare in Congress.

AICC has been quick to blame the "laxity and overconfidence" of the state organisation for the poor result which it dubbed as a "setback".

The defeat was all the more shocking as Punjab has the tradition of never repeating the incumbent government.