Bhattal for internal probe into Cong's Moga defeat

Former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal on Sunday dubbed the notices served by Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh to four party MLAs for allegedly not participating in the campaign for the Moga byelection as "childish".

She demanded that a meeting of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) executive should be convened immediately to look into the reasons for the party's defeat in the bypoll.

"It should be probed how our party, which held the Moga assembly seat for so long, faced such a humiliating defeat," Bhattal told HT here. She said there was a need to introspect whether the party lacked planning and strategy for this crucial byelection.

Bhattal termed Amarinder's move to serve notices to MLAs Brahm Mohindra, Randeep Singh Nabha, Avtar Henry and Rakesh Pandey for disciplinary action against them for being absent from the election campaign in Moga as "unjustified". "It was rather childish. He should have instead called a PPCC executive meeting to look into the reasons for the party's drubbing," she said, claiming that she had met Pandey, Brahm Mohindra and Nabha during the canvassing in Moga.

Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Sunil Jakhar, however, opted to stay neutral on the issue. He said it was for the party high command to decide on the notices served by Amarinder.

On Bhattal's assertion that the party needed to introspect, Jakhar said the Congress was "united" during the entire campaign.

Responding to Bhattal's demand for a PPCC executive meeting, he said, "Every leader has the right to make such a demand."