Cong names new district chiefs

Rajmeet Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 10

The Congress today named new presidents of its 28 district committees. The appointments reflect the party president Rahul Gandhi’s relentless push for generational shift.

Retaining two of the working district presidents of Sangrur and Amritsar (Rural) in the much-awaited restructuring of the party units, new faces have been brought in all other districts, rehabilitating leaders who were denied tickets in the 2017 Assembly elections.

While the Congress has been pushing for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assembly, only four women have found place on the new list.

Though efforts have been made to adjust different power centres and maintain religion and caste balance, kith and kin of Congress leaders like the wife of senior Congress leader Mangat Rai Bansal, Dr Manoj Manju Bansal, who lost from Mansa in last Assembly elections; Harcharan Singh Brara (Sotha), uncle of Gidderbaha MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring; Sukhvinder Singh Lally, brother-in-law of Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa; have been adjusted.

Karanjit Singh Galib, son of former Congress MP Gurcahran Singh Galib, and Mahesh Inder Singh Nihal Singh Wala, son of a former senior Congres leader, have been made district presidents of Ludhiana (Rural) and Moga, respectively.

After these appointments, the list of political appointments will be announced in the coming days, it is learnt. A senior Congress leader said several outgoing district presidents would be adjusted in appointments to improvement trusts, boards and corporations.

Leading the youth brigade are the new Ropar district president, Barinder Dhillon (34), a Youth Congress leader who has risen from student politics; and Bathinda (Rural) president Khushbaz Jattana (37), vice-president of the Punjab Youth Congress. The list has more young faces like 36-year-old Ranjam Kumar Kamra (Fazilka) and Sanjeev Bains (Pathankot), who has replaced senior leader Anil Vij.

Other appointees are Bhagwant Pal Sachar (Amritsar Rural), Jatinder Sonia (Amritsar Urban), Gulzar Masih (Gurdaspur), KK Nanda (Hoshiarpur), Prem Chand Bheema (Nawanshahr), KK Malhotra (Patiala Urban), Gurdeep Untsar (Patiala Rural), Balbir Rani Sodhi (Kapurthala), Karanjit Ghalib (Ludhiana Rural), Ashwani Sharma (Ludhiana Urban), Deepender Dhillon (Mohali), Sukhdeep Singh (Khanna), Rupi Kaur (Barnala), Rajinder Raja (Sangrur), Manju Bansal (Mansa), Arun Wadhwan (Bathinda Urban), Ajaipal Sandhu (Faridkot), Manjit Singh Ghasitpura (Tarn Taran), Harcharan Singh Brar (Muktsar), Mahesh Inder Singh Nihalsingwala (Moga), Gurcharan Singh Nahar (Ferozepur), Baldev Singh Dev (Jalandhar Urban), Sukhwinder Singh Lally (Jalandhar Rural) and Subhash Sood (Fatehgarh Sahib).