As a Punjab watcher described the assembly poll-bound state as a “low hanging” fruit for the Congress which the party should strategize to grab the opportunity with both the hands, the mismatch between the thinking of the central and state leaderships, and the resultant crisis, have put a spanner in the Grand Old Party’s (GOP) chance to stage a come back in the strategically located state. How to manufacture a crisis afresh and how to mishandle the situation? This seems to have, since sometime back, become the USP of the Congress. And the current turmoil in Punjab, closely followed by Jammu and Kashmir, unit is a glaring example of this. 

Well, severe factionalism in GOP’s State and Union Territory units and repeated failure of the clueless AICC leadership to stem the rot, reflects in Punjab. It is a classic example of half a dozen chief ministerial hopefuls pulling in different directions but strategically joining hands to “challenge the authority of the high command.” Instead of effectively mediating, the central leadership seemed content offering peace-meal solutions and ultimately resorting to status quo. This has further aggravated the situation. 

In states and UTs where the Congress has been facing such crisis, the factionalism has been allowed to foment, with encouragement from the AICC quarters particularly the state/UT in-charges. The two classic examples are Punjab and adjoining J&K. The common denominator between the two is that PCC chief, Mr Amrinder Singh Warring (Punjab) and Mr Tariq Hamid Karra (J&K) being the hand-picked choices of Mr Rahul Gandhi. And there lies the problem and from where stems the argument of the central leadership’s authority being under challenge. And, let Mr Gandhi take a decision, to remove such PCC chiefs, lest........

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