Ahead of CWC meet, Sidhu to meet party leadership in Delhi
Darpan News Desk IANS, 12 Oct, 2021 11:14 AM
New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) After resigning from the state President of Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu will have his first official meeting with the Congress central leadership on Thursday.
"Navjot Singh Sidhu, President, Punjab Congress, will be meeting me and (K.C.) Venugopal ji for discussion on certain organisational matters pertaining to Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee at Venugopal ji's office on October 14 at 6 p.m.," AICC General Secretary and the party's Punjab in-charge, Harish Rawat, said in a tweet.
After Sidhu had quit over differences with Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, the central leadership has called him to listen to his grievances.
It's likely that Sidhu will put forth the list of demands in the Punjab government as he is upset with the appointments in the government. He has resigned from the post of state president, but it has not been accepted yet by Sonia Gandhi. The meeting gains significance as it comes ahead of the CWC meeting.
The Congress is likely to convey Sidhu to withdraw his resignation and work in tandem with the Chief Minister.
The Congress wants to put its house in order ahead of polls and despite removal of Amarinder Singh there has been no resolution of the issues.
Sidhu is Unhappy over the first Cabinet expansion, allocation of portfolios and appointments on crucial posts, including the Advocate General and the DGP, by the Chief Minister. The Congress leadership has given a go ahead to a coordination committee after the Chief Minister tried to placate Sidhu and said that the decision will be taken collectively.
Navjot Singh Sidhu after his resignation has said he will always stand by party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
In a tweet Sidhu said, "Will uphold principles of Gandhi Ji & Shastri Ji...
"Post or No Post, will stand by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi! Let all negative forces try to defeat me, but with every ounce of positive energy will make Punjab win, Punjabiyat (Universal Brotherhood) win & every Punjabi win!!"
Navjot Singh Sidhu was on forefront in Lakhimpur Kheri where he proceeded on indefinite fast in support of his demand for action against Union Minister of state for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni's son Ashish Mishra. He also led a large convoy to support Priyanka Gandhi in her agitation.
The police identified the victim as hakeem Satnam Singh who was attacked at his clinic on Thursday in the limits of Faqirabad police station. A police official said that unknown assailants, whose number could not be ascertained, opened fire on the victim and managed to escape from the scene, the Dawn news report said.
Chief Secretary H.K. Diwedi held an emergency meeting with the District Magistrates and Superintendent of Polices of West and East Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Hooghly, and Howrah on Thursday evening and took stock of the situation. After that the state government decided to deploy the Army in certain areas. However, NDRF teams have been kept on standby.
According to sources, Amarinder Singh will convene a meeting of leaders close to him in a few days to consider the formation of his new party, which will include all the leaders of the anti-Sidhu faction.
The arrested persons have been identified as Abdul Khalid, Shriram Chaurasia, Zishan Ahmad, Vikas Kesarwani and Krishna Kumar. Inspector (Kareli) Anupam Sharma said the arrested persons had sold SIM cards to law-breakers at high prices after creating fake IDs.
The ex-CM of Punjab recalled that Rawat himself had publicly stated after meeting him that he was satisfied by his government's track record on the 2017 poll promises.
It is learnt that Channi in his first meeting with the Prime Minister after becoming chief minister of Punjab requested that the Centre take back its decision to postpone paddy procurement by 10 days. The Centre has postponed the procurement of paddy by 10 days due to rain in Punjab and Haryana. Earlier the procurement was supposed to start from October 1 but now it will start from October 11.
