Punjab: Three Congress MLAs resign from Assembly panels for being ignored during Cabinet reshuffle
Rakesh Pandey, Amrik Dhillon and Randeep Nabha said they would meet party president Rahul Gandhi to decide their future course of action.
Three Congress MLAs on Monday resigned from Punjab’s Vidhan Sabha committees to protest against “ignoring of their seniority and adjusting junior MLAs” during the recent Cabinet expansion, reported The Tribune. Rakesh Pandey, Amrik Dhillon and Randeep Nabha said they would meet party president Rahul Gandhi to decide their future course of action.
“We have sought time from AICC [All India Congress Committee] President Rahul Gandhi,” Pandey told The Indian Express. “As and when he gets free from the Karnataka elections on Tuesday, we hope to meet him and take the issue to him. I am the senior-most MLA. As many as 10 are my juniors and they are in the Cabinet.”
While Pandey is a six-time legislator from Ludhiana-North, Dhillon and Nabha have been elected four times from Samrala and Amloh, respectively. The three claimed that no senior state party leader bothered to hear their grievances.
“Neither the chief minister nor [Pradesh Congress Committee President Sunil] Jakhar bothered about it,” said Pandey. “Nobody even called up to find out why I was upset.”
Nabha and Dhillion also said that they were upset at being ignored and their seniority should have been respected. “Despite being a four-time MLA, I was ignored,” Nabha told The Indian Express. “I have been a dyed in wool Congressman. But nothing was considered.”