Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary is the son of late Congress Party MLA Chaudhary Santokh Singh, who passed away during the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’
New Delhi, 9 April 2024
The Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary has stepped down from his role as the the Congress party’s chief whip within the Punjab Assembly, giving a blow to the Congress Party’s prospects just weeks before the Lok Sabha elections.
Chaudhary’s decision to resign comes amid his vocal opposition to the nomination of former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi from the reserved seat in Jalandhar. He has publicly expressed skepticism about Channi’s acceptance in Jalandhar and criticized what he perceives as political maneuvering by the former CM.
According to Vikramjit, the Congress party in the Doaba region did not benefit from a “Channi wave” in the 2022 assembly elections. He further emphasized how foolish Channi’s attempts were to link himself to Dera Sachkhand Ballan’s support.
Chaudhary Santokh Singh, the father of MLA Vikramjit, passed away during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, resulting in a byelection. After that his mother Karamjit Kaur, ran for Congress but lost to AAP candidate Sushil Rinku.
This latest resignation compounds the Congress Party’s woes in Punjab, following the high-profile defection of Ravneet Singh Bittu, a two-time elected Ludhiana Lok Sabha member and three-time Congress MP, who recently crossed over to the BJP. The departure of former MLA Gurpreet Singh GP and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Raj Kumar Chabbewal from the Congress Party within a week in March further underscores the challenges facing the party’s political stronghold in the state.
