Punjab CM Amarinder Singh meets Congress panel in Delhi
Jun 04, 2021
New Delhi [India], June 4 : Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday attended a meeting of the three-member panel set up by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to resolve infighting among the party's state unit.
The panel had on Monday held its first meeting with 25 MLAs from Punjab at the Congress 'war room' at 15, Gurdwara Rakabganj road in the national capital.
The AICC secretary general in charge of Punjab, one of the panel's three members told ANI that today's meeting was the last in a series of meetings convened to resolve differences within the Punjab unit of the Congress party.
"Today is the last meeting. Our president is going out for some two to three days and we will submit the report soon," Rawat told ANI.
Along with Rawat, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and JP Aggarwal constitute the three-member panel, which has ove the last two days met 50 Punjab MLAs in the city.
According to sources the agenda of the meeting was to resolve the widening differences between its leaders - Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu who had appeared before the panel on Tuesday said that he has conveyed the truth of Punjab to the high command in a "loud voice".
Speaking to media personnel, Sidhu had said, "I have come at the call of the high command... I have conveyed the voice of the people of Punjab. My stand was, is and will be the same. The democratic power of the people of Punjab, the power of tax should go back to those people. I have come by publishing the truth. Truth is tortured, not defeated."
Apart from Sidhu, on Tuesday, one of the big names from the state unit, MLA Pargat Singh who spoke in front of the panel said several MLAs had complained about chief minister Amarinder Singh before the panel.
Sidhu is the tallest name among the leaders who raised their voice against the chief minister and from a distance it appears to be a face-off between Amarinder and Sidhu.
Sidhu had been targeting the chief minister on the sacrilege incidents involving Guru Granth Sahib and the police firing in 2015 in Kotkapura in Faridkot.
The Congress party had before the 2017 elections assured of taking action against the culprits in these incidents.
Congress leaders feel that if concrete action is not taken in this matter, then the party is set to suffer a huge loss in the next year's Assembly elections.
Opponents of the Punjab Chief Minister, who also holds charge of the state's home ministry accuse him of being close to Sukhbir Singh Badal due to which he has not taken any action against the taking any action against the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, and the state's chief minister during the time of the sacrilege incidents.
Meanwhile, in a major development on Thursday, Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh before leaving for Delhi welcomed Aam Admi Party MLAs Sukhpal Khaira, Jagdev Singh Kamalu and Pirmal Singh Dhaula into Congress.