CHANDIGARH: Newly appointed Punjab Congress president Pargat Singh took charge at a ceremony at the Congress Bhawan in Chandigarh on Sunday, attended by senior party leaders, including Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and Charanjit Singh Channi.Singh, 61, a former Olympian and Indian hockey captain, is a three-time MLA from Jalandhar Cantt. He replaced Ludhiana MP Warring as the Punjab Congress chief.The Congress replaced Warring after weeks of internal unrest over the state leadership threatened to hurt the party’s campaign for the crucial assembly elections due early next year.Several senior leaders were present at the event, including Channi, Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa, Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, and MLAs Rana Gurjit Singh and Sukhpal Singh Khaira.Addressing the gathering, Pargat Singh thanked the party leadership for entrusting him with the responsibility of leading the Punjab Congress.“For me, it is not just assuming the charge (of Punjab Congress president), but an increasing of my responsibility towards Punjab,” Singh said.He emphasised the need for “positive politics”.“Real thing is what people of Punjab want. What they say? The issues of Punjab are first,” he said.Singh also criticised the Bhagwant Mann government, asserting that Punjabis despise the politics of hatred.Former chief minister and Jalandhar MP Channi congratulated Singh on his appointment as Punjab Congress president.Targeting the AAP government, Channi called on Punjabis to stand up against those “looting” Punjab. “We should move ahead unitedly,” he said.“We have to fight the battle of Punjab, Punjabiyat, farmers, labourers and shopkeepers. We should fight unitedly,” Channi said.Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said today, Punjab is waiting for a new government to be formed which protect people’s lives, businesses and families.He also praised Warring, who served as Punjab Congress president for more than four years.Pargat Singh, a former national hockey captain, led Indian in the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.He entered politics with the Shiromani Akali Dal before later switching to the Congress.A three-time MLA from Jalandhar Cantt, he is also a former cabinet minister.After his appointment, Singh had asserted that there was no factionalism in the state unit and that, as a former hockey player, he would take everyone along.Singh’s immediate challenge will be to bring different groups within the Punjab Congress unit together and mobilise cadre ahead of the 2027 Punjab assembly polls.(With inputs from PTI)
