First time minister and Congress MLA from Gidderbaha, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring(Source: Facebook) The new Punjab Congress chief, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, is confident that the Congress has got what it takes to bounce back from the 2022 election rout. About his vision for the party in the state, Warring says that Congress cadre is battle-ready to take political challenges in the state head-on.
How are you going to rebuild the party after the 2022 Assembly poll drubbing?
Congress cadre is still strong and they are ready to take challenges for the welfare of the masses head-on. No doubt, we are less numbers in the Assembly this time, but do remember the 1997 polls when then CM Harcharan Brar was replaced by Rajinder Kaur Bhattal ahead of elections. Back then, we could win only 14 seats and SAD-BJP alliance had got a whopping 95 seats, but despite that we came back in power in 2002 after winning 62 seats. So, the party will bounce back soon.
What do you think was the reason behind this debacle?
I feel that people by and large had no complaints against us, but there was infighting and difference of opinion within the party. Now, as PPCC chief, I will focus mainly on maintaining discipline within the party. If people have differences, they can come and discuss the issues on a party forum and not by tweeting on social media. People wanted to vote for us, but out infighting cost us badly. Voters doubted our unity and this helped AAP gain.
Were you able to reach out to youngsters during the polls?
We failed badly to reach out to first-time voters and young voters…Our party did so many reforms like reduction in power tariff up to 7 kW, cracking down on the transport mafia, fixing sand prices to name a few, but somehow I feel that we failed to reach out to young voters as they were more attracted towards AAP’s social media campaign. I admit that AAP was better at social media than us. So, we are going to focus more on such things in future.
What are your immediate priorities?
Immediate priorities are to have organisational structure of the party at state as well as district level. We need to rebuild this soon and later start working again with a new zeal.
How do you rate the working of the new AAP government?
Anarchy has increased in the state after the new government took charge. You can look at rising prices of sand, even though they were talking about sand mafia. They had plans to earn from liquor policy, but Delhi’s liquor policy has already failed. They have given extension to the existing state’s liquor policy as of now. Above all, they are focusing on a song by Sidhu Moosewala. They need to focus on real issues and not reel issues. They need to focus on extra-Constitutional activities by Delhi CM in Punjab while Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann stays missing in a meeting chaired by Arvind Kejriwal with Punjab cadre officers.
How did you manage to retain your Assembly seat despite an AAP wave in Malwa?
People believed in me. I was a first-time Congress MLA in 2012 and later in 2017 as well, despite the tsunami of “badlaav” slogan, people trusted me. I am visiting village by village to thank voters. In a short span as transport minister, I increased income of PRTC by Rs 1.5 crore per day. Few buses which are being sent on roads by AAP government were purchased during my tenure. Time-table of buses was made for the first time in the past 20 years and I even took head on the illegal extension of private buses including those of Badals. I am thankful to the voters.
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