Other States - Punjab   

New Punjab PCC chief warns bureaucracy

Staff Correspondent

Enthusiastic welcome for Shamsher Singh Dullo by party workers

CHANDIGARH: The newly appointed president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), Shamsher Singh Dullo, on Wednesday assumed office as an unprecedented crowd of party workers cheered him in the presence of senior Central and State leaders.

The leaders of various factions, including the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, seized the opportunity to assure the party high command as well as the workers of putting up a cohesive show in the run-up to the Punjab Assembly elections due in 18 months.

Talking to reporters, Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also in-charge of the party affairs in Punjab, sought to dismiss talks of factionalism having played a role in the leadership change. He claimed that the party delegates from the State had empowered the Congress President to fulfil the constitutional commitment of holding elections of the new office bearers every three years.

Workers' president

In the presence of Mr. Mukherjee, AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni and Capt Singh, Mr. Dullo handed out a stern warning to the State bureaucracy.

He made a major attempt to project himself as the "workers' President''. Amid slogans, Mr. Dullo said that the respect and honour of the Congress workers would not only be restored but maintained, while officers of the bureaucracy who did not respond to the "genuine'' concerns of the party activists, should be prepared to face agitation. Though he complimented the State Government and his predecessor, H.S. Hanspal, the leader assured that the shortcomings would be taken care of, as the party would strive to fulfil every promise made out to the people in the manifesto for the Assembly 2002 elections.

`Some failures'

In his address, Capt Singh while accepting that the party workers had been ignored at a few levels of the administration, disclosed that he had convened a meeting of the Deputy Commissioners and Police chiefs of all districts, where proper instructions would be passed down. He expressed satisfaction that the upsurge among the workers indicated that the party was ready to take on any challenge by the opponents in the forthcoming elections.

Capt Singh said that while the rank and file of the Shiromani Akali Dal stood demoralised and disillusioned, their leader, Parkash Singh Badal, was desperate to find some issue. He accused the Akali chief of attempting to make political mileage out of non-issues and misleading the people.

Sonia thanked

The Deputy Chief Minister, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, thanked the Congress chief, Sonia Gandhi, for understanding the pulse of the workers. She was of the opinion that with Mr. Dullo's appointment, new life had been infused into the State unit of the party. She described the new PCC chief as a person from grassroots, who had worked closely with the assassinated Chief Minister, Beant Singh, and could easily fathom the opponents.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

New Punjab PCC chief warns bureaucracy

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu