Chandigarh, Jun 18 (PTI) Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pratap Singh Bajwa on Friday said he is not in the race for the Punjab chief ministership or state party chief and has nothing personal against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

His statement has come amid infighting in the Punjab Congress and days after a three-member party panel formed to end factionalism submitted its report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

On Navjot Singh Sidhu who has been recently critical of own government in the state over the desecration issue, the Rajya Sabha MP said the Amritsar MLA should be given an important role.

However, he said it takes time for a leader to reach a certain position and added that a colonel, no matter how much capable he is, cannot become a general overnight.

On reports that he held a secret meeting with Amarinder Singh, considered as his bete noire, Bajwa denied it, but added if he comes to meet him, he is more than welcome as they are “part of one Congress family”.

“It is his own house, how can I say no to him or for that matter to any other Congressman,” he said, adding, “I have not said anything which is personal, my fight has always been on issues.”

To a question, Bajwa said the party high command will decide the chief minister's face for the 2022 Assembly polls.

“I received a phone call from senior leaders of the party last night and cleared to them that I am not in race for any top position, neither the chief ministership nor state Congress president. I am not a candidate,” Bajwa told reporters here.

“Whatever order I get from the party high command for Punjab and party's betterment, I will abide by that,” said Bajwa, who had also met the AICC panel earlier.

On Sidhu, Bajwa said, “I want to say one thing when Sidhu was to join the Congress, there was senior leadership of Punjab who wanted that he should not come. I had intervened even then and said he would be an asset for the party”.

Sidhu had quit the BJP and joined the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in 2017.

He said the party high command and Congress workers too want that Sidhu should be given an important role.

“At the same time, I want to make one thing clear—to reach top positions some time is needed. If you have joined the party some time is needed and whatever role you are given should be accepted,” he said.

He also said those who have been loyal to the party and who have been in the party for over four decades and connected with Congress ideology should also be given a role while making it clear that he is not against a role being given to Sidhu, who has been at loggerheads with CM Amarinder Singh.

“To lead any organisation, be even armed forces or a political party, three ingredients are important--loyalty, seniority and capability. A colonel, no matter how much capable he is, cannot become a general overnight and he will have to wait for some time,” he said in an apparent reference to Sidhu.

“We have left it to party high command and whatever will be their decision, we will abide by it,” he added.

“But I have conveyed it to the party high command that I am not a candidate for any post. However, one thing I have told them that all sections-- be it Dalits, backward classes, Hindus, Sikhs, scheduled castes, it is important to give proportional representation,” he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)