New Delhi, April 4 (IANS) Congress MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Singh Bittu, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, sparking a buzz in Punjab Congress which recently faced a humiliating defeat in the Assembly elections which were swept by the Aam Aadmi Party.
"Today I met the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Sh. @narendramodi ji and discussed issues of Punjab," Bittu tweeted.
While Congress leaders restrained from commenting on the meeting, sources close to Bittu said that there was nothing much in the meeting which was a courtesy call. However, recent instances of Congress leaders leaving the party have triggered speculation of another Congressman desetring the party.
Bittu met the Prime Minister just a day ahead of the meeting of the Congress legislative party.
Bittu is the grandson of Beant Singh, former Chief Minister of Punjsb who was assasinated by terrorists in 1995.
Ever since the Congress chose to appoint Charanjit Singh Channi as the Chief Minister of Punjab months before the Assembly elections last year, all is not well in the party.
Due to the internal rift in the party, Congress faced massive defeat in the elections.
Bittu belongs to the camp which was more aligned to former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
At the oath-taking venue, three podiums were set up on the stage. While the Governor and Mann were on the central podium, the second was occupied by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet, and the third by AAP's 91 legislators.
A day earlier, Sonia Gandhi asked party chiefs Sidhu in Punjab, Ganesh Godiyal in Uttarakhand, Ajay Kumar Lallu in Uttar Pradesh, Girish Chodankar in Goa and Nameirakpam Loken Singh in Manipur to resign. Sidhu, once a Chief Minister aspirant, faced defeat from his stronghold Amritsar (East) seat.
Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the family members, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that on March 10, a protected witness in the case had been attacked and the state government did not file an appeal challenging the bail granted to Misra in the case.
The SAD also announced the expulsion of Kalka from the primary membership of the party, besides dissolving the party's Delhi unit. It also announced the formation of a five-member ad hoc committee headed by veteran leader Avtar Singh Hit, and comprising Harinder Singh Kaypee, Bhupinder Singh Anand, Gurdev Singh Bhola, and Ravinder Singh Khurana.
In December last year, the Supreme Court had said it expects a fair investigation and investigating agencies should be neutral, as it asked Delhi Police to conclude the probe, by December 15, in a case against Singh.
Amid a call for leadership change in the party, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has called a meeting of party leaders on Tuesday to find out the reasons for the defeat. The Congress could only get just over 2 per cent votes and two seats in the Uttar Pradesh polls.
