CHANDIGARH, May 21: The move of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Santokh Singh Randhawa to resign in protest against `bogus' organisational polls is seen as a pre-emptive move against the party high command installing former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in his place.

Though Randhawa withdrew his resignation after meeting All India Congress Committee president Sitaram Kesri in Delhi yesterday, partymen feel that the differences within the state unit are bound to intensify in the coming weeks.Randhawa, who had resigned protesting against what he described as bogus elections, also tried to play the Sonia Gandhi card in the process demanding that she should replace Kesri.

About three weeks back that the high command sounded Bhattal about the organisational responsibility that was to be entrusted to her to rejuvenate the fractured party. And the ball was set rolling when AICC joint secretary and incharge of party affairs in Punjab Ambika Soni and former union minister Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, MP, visited Chandigarh last week.

The three women represent a deadly combination in the Punjab politics. The coming together of this trio earlier saw the unceremonious exit of then chief minister Harcharan Singh Brar about three months before the Vidhan Sabha elections. It is a different matter that the change could not alter the fortune (or misfortune) of the Congress.

Soni was handed over the reigns of the party replacing Virendra Kataria. As she was in the process of overhauling the party machinery, she was in for a shock. Without consulting her, the party high command announced the appointment of Randhawa as the PCC chief. She has no political love lost for Randhawa.

Congressmen close to Randhawa also say that Bhattal, who was brought in on the eve of polls, was unable to stall the Akali ascendancy, with the party suffering its worst defeat in recent years. Bhattal's supports explain that she got very little time to galvanise the party. Randhawa's camp is also claiming credit for the party's recovery in the recent municipal polls in some Punjab towns.

Both Bhinder and Randhawa belong to Gurdaspur district and represent the extremes in the district Congress spectrum. It is not without reason that both Soni and Bhinder have been gunning for Randhawa. Bhattal has her main supporter in AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad.

According to the sources, Randhawa was advised by his supporters to submit his resignation rather than face the humiliation in view of the signals given by the party high command about his replacement next month. His isolation was apparent the day he announced his resignation at a news conference. Not a single party leader was there to accompany him. Almost all made it a point that day to visit Bhattal.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.