Amarinder new Pb Cong chief; Soni to lead campaign panel for 2017 polls

New Delhi, Nov 27, 2015 (PTI)

 Former chief minister Amarinder Singh has been appointed as the new Punjab Congress president, replacing Pratap Singh Bajwa, whose resignation was accepted by party president Sonia Gandhi yesterday.

A release issued by AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said that "the Congress president has appointed Capt Amarinder Singh, MP, as president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect".

The move is "consequent to the resignation of Sardar Pratap Singh Bajwa from the presidentship" of the Punjab unit of the party, the release added.

Further, as part of Punjab Congress's restructuring, senior party leader and former Union minister Ambika Soni has been appointed the chairperson of its Campaign Committee for the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections.

Also, former minister Lal Singh, a prominent OBC face in the state, will be the new senior vice-president of its state unit while Dalit leader Sadhu Singh Dharamsot will be the vice -chairman of the Campaign Committee.

Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, the grandson of former state chief minister Beant Singh, has been appointed as the convener of the Campaign Committee.
Further appointments will be made shortly, Dwivedi's statement added.