Pratap Singh Bajwa replaces Amarinder as Punjab unit chief

The Congress has appointed Pratap Singh Bajwa as the new chief of its Punjab unit, replacing Captain Amarinder Singh. "Bajwa, the party member of Parliament from Gurdaspur, has replaced Amarinder, Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said.

Bajwa was elected member of Legislative Assembly in 1992, 2002 and 2007 from his home constituency Qadian. In 2009, he was asked to contest for the Lok Sabha seat from Gurdaspur. He defeated three-time MP and film star Vinod Khanna from the Parliamentary seat.

Bajwa has also served as the minister under the leadership of four chief ministers, including the late Beant Singh, late Harcharan Singh Brar, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Captain Amarinder Singh.

In a related development, Congress MP Harish Choudhary has been appointed national secretary of the All India Congress Committee and given charge of party affairs in Punjab. Choudhary is an MP from Rajasthan’s Barmer.

The talk of a change in Punjab unit of Congress has been going for more than an year ever since the party''s defeat at the hands of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in the assembly elections in January last year, where the ruling coalition created history by coming back to power.