Lally, Dev appointed District Cong Committee chiefs

Jalandhar, January 10

In a surprise shake-up, Sukhwinder Singh Lally, brother of former MLA from Adampur Kanwaljit Singh Lally, has been appointed as the chief of the District Congress Committee (rural) while former MC councillor Baldev Singh Dev has got the post of president, DCC (urban). Both appointments came on an unexpected note.

The appointments were made and communicated through a press note issued by the AICC this evening. Lally, a Jatt Sikh from Nangal Shama, has been the PPCC secretary since 1999. He is also the brother-in-law of Minister Sukhjinder S Randhawa. Wives of Lally and Randhawa are paternal cousins. Lally’s nephew Mehtab Lally had recently won the ZP poll from Patara. Lallys are considered to be closely associated with ex-PPCC chief Partap S Bajwa. Sukhwinder Lally is into the business of brick-kilns. He said he would join the office after a day or two. “It definitely won’t be tomorrow as the oath ceremony of state sarpanches is scheduled for the day,” he said.

Baldev Singh Dev, who represents the BC community, is a protégé of former minister Avtar Henry. On his announcement as DCC chief, Henry, Jalandhar Central MLA Rajinder Beri and Mayor Jagdish Raja offered him laddoos to mark the occasion.

After new appointments, the previous DCC chiefs, Daljit S Ahluwalia (for urban) and Capt Harminder Singh (for rural) too have got relieved. Both had been appointed temporarily on the orders of Punjab Congress in-charge Asha Kumari ahead of the 2017 poll to relieve Beri, ex-DCC (urban) chief, and Jagbir Brar, ex-DCC rural chief, who were to contest for the Punjab Assembly poll then. — TNS