Chandigarh: As it was the Hindu voter that rallied behind the congress party in the Punjab State assembly election of February 2017, that enabled the resurrection of the Congress party in Punjab. The party is now paying back the community with compound interest, said the media sources.
New Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar (R) with Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh in Chandigarh on Thursday.
After making Brahm Mohindra second-in-command in the state cabinet and Rana Kunwar Partap Singh the assembly speaker, the Congress party here on Thursday passed the baton of the state unit to former leader of opposition Sunil Jakhar. He replaced Amarinder Singh who is now the chief minister.
As reported by the media his appointment has been approved by the Indian congress party vice- president Rahul Gandhi and Amarinder Singh gave his consent to it.
It notable that before his elevation Sunil Jakhar a three-time MLA was in political wilderness after being removed unceremoniously from the post of leader of opposition a year before Punjab went to the polls. Ironically, Sunil Jakhar, who was siding with Amarinder Singh in the latter’s bitter war of succession with his predecessor Partap Bajwa, lost the post while Amarinder Singh replaced Bajwa, notes Hindustan Times (HT).
It was preceded and followed by more setbacks. The congress leader lost from Ferozepur in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The seat had catapulted his father Balram Jakhar to the post of Lok Sabha speaker in 1980.