Captain Amarinder Singh named Punjab Congress chief

New Delhi: Captain Amarinder Singh has been chosen as the next president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), while senior leader Lal Singh will be the senior vice-president.

Confirming the development, Congress general secretary Shakeel Ahmad on Friday said, "The PPCC has not been fully constituted, and only the names of president and vice-president have been announced, while the rest of the appointments will be made shortly."

He said that a new PPCC, comprising the old and new members, would be constituted soon. The Congress Party has also constituted a Campaign Committee with Ambika Soni as its chairperson with an eye on the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections.

"Senior MLA Sadhu Singh Dharmsodh has been named as the vice-chairman and Ludhiana Member of Parliament Ravneet Singh Bittu will be the convener," said Ahmad, while elaborating upon the appointments.

When asked about the appointment of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader, he said an observer would be sent to Punjab, who would hold a meeting with the party MLAs, and whosoever is nominated by the MLAs would be the CLP leader.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Partap Singh Bajwa and CLP leader Sunil Jakhar resigned from their respective posts yesterday.

"Both the leaders have sent their resignations to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, which she has accepted," said Ahmed. The resignations came ahead of reshuffle in the Punjab Congress, which is aimed at the 2017 assembly elections in the state.