Jakhars of Abohar: In Warring’s crosshairs, Congress MLA and Sunil Jakhar’s nephew Sandeep dares party to expel him | Political Pulse News,The Indian Express
On August 14, Warring challenged Sandeep Jakhar to resign from the party and get fresh mandate from the people if he was so confident about their support in his constituency.
The first time the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC)’s president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring trained his guns on former state party chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar was on June 4 – a few weeks after the latter switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – during his campaign for the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat bypoll. Warring had then also targeted his nephew Sandeep Jakhar, the 45-year-old Congress MLA from Abohar, saying that Sunil could have also taken the latter along with him to the BJP fold.
On August 14, while addressing a public meeting on the concluding day of the state Congress’s six-day-long Tiranga Yatra in Abohar in Fazilka district, Warring challenged Sandeep Jakhar to resign from the party and get fresh mandate from the people if he was so confident about their support in his constituency. He again slammed Sunil Jakhar for “betraying” the Congress and “sabotaging” its prospects in the February Punjab Assembly polls swept by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Sandeep was conspicuous by his absence at the Congress’s event. He instead held his own “freedom run” event on August 14 morning. He had won from Abohar by defeating AAP candidate Deepak Kamboj by 5471 votes despite the AAP wave. AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had ended his poll campaign by holding a road show in Abohar too.
For the past few months, Sandeep’s relationship with his party has been strained and even hostile. He and Sunil, whom he calls his “political guru”, live in the same palatial house in Abohar.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Sandeep said, “Although I had removed the Congress flag from my house in June itself but I will continue to serve Abohar as their MLA as they put their trust in me despite a very strong ‘badlaav (change)’ wave. I will not resign (from the Congress). If they (Congress) want to throw me out, it is up to them. Statements of PPCC president indicate some sort of fear in his mind. Soon after taking charge of the state party unit, he (Warring) had said that the party discipline is a must and matters should be discussed on a party platform but it seems that he himself needs to practise what he preaches.”
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