Punjab CM again called to Delhi over cabinet expansion
Darpan News Desk IANS, 24 Sep, 2021 10:26 AM
New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has been called to Delhi for the third time on Friday evening after meeting Rahul Gandhi late on Thursday night with the meeting continuing till 2 am.
Sources said that he has been called for last minute fine-tuning of the Punjab cabinet after some state leaders urged the party high command to address their concerns.
Some new faces are likely to be inducted in the state cabinet, but it will not be entirely new and people from all backgrounds will be given chance to serve in the Channi cabinet.
Rahul Gandhi met Channi along with the party's Punjab in-charge Harish Rawat and General Secretary K.C. Venugopal late on Thursday. Before that, Rahul held a separate meeting with Rawat.
The party does not want to drop all the ministers in the past cabinet as it will strengthen former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's side. These MLAs could be crucial ahead of the Assemby elections in Punjab scheduled next year.
Amarinder Singh when asked said, "I do not know what has been removed, it looks very nice to me." The statement is contrary to Rahul Gandhi who on Tuesday joined the outrage on social media over the renovation.
In a hard-hitting response to his Haryana counterpart's tweets questioning him on farmer welfare, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ripped into Manohal Lal Khattar's claims, terming them a "pathetic attempt" to cover up the "sustained and persistently shameful treatment meted out" to farmers by his government.
Rawat is scheduled to visit Punjab in a day or two and will talk to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and state president Navjot Singh Sidhu and sort out the issues arising out of the differences between the two leaders.
The government has decided to call a special session of the Vidhan Sabha for one day on September 3 to commemorate the historic 400th Prakash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur.
Sonia Gandhi on Monday approved several committees ahead of the Assembly polls in Goa. Girish Chodankar has been retained as the state president and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat will continue as the Congress legislative party leader while Alexio Sequeira is the Working state President.
After Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, Afghanistan has plunged into a big humanitarian crisis. Pakistan is perceived as having played a major role in bringing the Taliban back to power. As evacuation of foreign nationals winds down, a US missile defence system intercepted rockets fired towards the Kabul international airport.
