Amarinder likely to meet Sonia Gandhi amid infighting in Punjab
Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 Jul, 2021 11:05 AM
New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) Amid escalating infighting in Punjab Congress, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is likely to meet Sonia Gandhi and apprise his side of the story to the interim Congress President.
The proposed meeting comes in the backdrop of the suggestions made by the Congress high command to the Punjab government and changes in the state unit of the party, days after disgruntled Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu met Rahul Gandhi.
After Sidhu met Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi separately last week, there is a speculation that Priyanka Gandhi has suggested Sidhu's name as the Punjab Congress chief. However, Amarinder Singh and some of the other factions in the party are not accepting this formula.
Sources said that Punjab leaders may accept him as the working president, but not as a full-fledged state unit chief as the Chief Minister is keen on having a non-Sikh face as the state Congress President.
The Punjab in-charge for Congress, Harish Rawat, had said that it's a good sign that Rahul Gandhi has met the former-cricketer-turned politician, adding that the issue is likely to be resolved around next week.
Meanwhile, Amarinder Singh had called the MLAs supporting him for lunch in Chandigarh the day Sidhu left for Delhi and and is believed to have discussed the future strategy.
The move had reportedly upset the party high command, which viewed it as a show of strength, especially after the panel formed by the Congress to look into the Punjab issue said that there is no question of removing the Chief Minister.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to register cases under the Disaster Management Act against Opposition leaders and activists who have been staging protests in the state over the past few days.
The Delta variant accounts for more than 27 per cent of new cases in Ontario, as more international flights with Covid cases landed in Toronto last week.
India's capital allowed businesses and shops to reopen with limited hours and the Delhi Metro, which serves New Delhi and adjoining areas, also resumed operations at 50% capacity.
After Upendra Kushwaha and Sanjay Singh, Umesh Thakur, the Siwan district president of the JD-U, jumped into the fray and said that Pandey has a long criminal history. He had also molested a young girl in a train.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday condemned the Congress government in Punjab for allegedly discriminating against teachers and forcing them to come to the streets, and asked state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla not to behave in an 'arrogant' and 'dictatorial' manner and resolve the grievances of government school teachers immediately.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
