Cong panel on Punjab meets MLAs to find common ground for truce
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 May, 2021 11:12 AM
New Delhi, May 31 (IANS) A Congress panel met ministers and MLAs in New Delhi to find out a common ground to end factionalism in Punjab with the state going to the polls next year. The panel will meet Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also.
In the Monday meet Congress state president Sunil Jakhar met the committee constituted by party president Sonia Gandhi comprising of Mallikarjun Kharge, JP Aggarwal and General Secretary In charge of the state Harish Rawat.
Apart from Sunil Jakhar, ministers in the Punjab government, Sunder Sham Arora, Charanjit Channi, Aruna Chowdhry, Brahm Mohindra, OP Soni, Manpreet Badal, Tript Bajwa, Rana Sodhi and Sukhjinder Randhawa also met the committee.
The committee will continue its consultations till Wednesday. Navjot Singh Sidhu is likely to meet the members on Tuesday. Sources indicated that there is no talk of replacing the Chief Minister, only rehabilitation of the important leaders.
Sidhu wants his rehabilitation either in the government or the party. He has been attacking the Chief Minister, saying that he is waiting as the high command has intervened. Sidhu dared the chief minister to prove his allegations of his joining another party.
However, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) will not take the risk of replacing the Chief Minister as there is nobody of his stature to face the Akali Dal specially the Badal family. The Congress will have to devise a middle path as 20 MLAs are reported to be unhappy with the Amarinder Singh's style of functioning.
Sources said the committee will perform a balancing act between the two factions. Sidhu and one non Sikh leader may be appointed as Deputy Chief Ministers. The committee is expected to submit its report this week itself.
Ram Awla, Gurkirat Singh, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Arun Dogra, Raj Kumar Chabbewal, Rana KP and Rakesh Pandey also met the panel.
Most of the MLAs complained about arbitrary actions by the CM but the key concern was the government's inability to bring to book the culprits in the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing during peaceful protests in 2015, which was in the party election manifesto.
Last year 'WhatsApp killer" yoga guru Ramdev's dream 'swadeshi' messaging app 'Kimbho' was taken down from app stores owing to privacy concerns as it also failed to create any buzz.
The Punjab government will mark the International Women's Day on Sunday in a unique way by reserving a stretch of the main road in every district for from 7 p.m. on Saturday to 1 a.m. the next day.
The death toll in the Delhi’s communal violence has gone up to 42 now with four more fatalities being recorded at the city’s GTB Hospital on Friday, officials said.
As communal violence spiked in northeast Delhi earlier this week, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh residents of a colony came together and stood guard against frenzied mobs which ran riot in nearby areas vandalising homes, shops and torching cars.
