Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday appointed Amarinder Singh Brar (Raja Warring) as the party’s new Punjab chief in place of Navjot Singh Sidhu, and former Rajya Sabha member Pratap Singh Bajwa as the new legislature party leader.

Sidhu was asked to tender his resignation after the party’s debacle in the recent elections in Punjab.

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While Warring, who was the Transport minister in the last Congress government, won the recent assembly elections from the Gidderbaha constituency, Bajwa was elected as an MLA from the Qadian assembly constituency.

The appointments bear the stamp of Rahul Gandhi who had named Raja Warring as Indian Youth Congress president and Pratap Singh Bajwa as Punjab Congress chief a few years ago.

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Warring inherits the difficult task of uniting various factions of the Congress in Punjab.

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Sonia Gandhi has also appointed former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu as the Working President of Punjab Congress and SC leader Raj Kumar Chabbewal as deputy CLP leader in the state assembly.

“The Congress President has appointed Amarinder Singh Brar (Raja Warring) as President and Bharat Bhushan Ashu as Working President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee,” the party said in a statement.

“The Congress president has appointed Pratap Singh Bajwa as Leader and Raj Kumar Chabbewal as deputy Leader of Punjab Congress Legislature Party in Punjab,” the statement added.

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Following the party’s drubbing in the five states that went to polls recently, Sonia Gandhi had asked these state Congress chiefs to resign. She had also revamped the Manipur and Goa units