- Monday, February 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
DAYS after his rival Navjot Singh Sidhu met Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday (6) left for the national capital to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi. It is the second time in two weeks that the veteran Congress leader was heading for New Delhi for talks over the ongoing feud in Punjab Congress but he did not get an audience with either Sonia or Rahul Gandhi last time.
Singh left for New Delhi in a helicopter from Chandigarh around 11 am (IST) and was expected to meet the high command later in the day, according to sources. The meeting assumed significance as the high command has been trying to resolve the rift in the party in Punjab, one of the few states that the Congress rules at the moment, ahead of the next assembly elections that are less than a year away.
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Singh-Sidhu dispute puts Punjab Congress in trouble
Singh, who is serving his second chief ministerial term, has been at loggerheads with Sidhu who has attacked the former over various issues, ranging from the alleged delay in the completion of a probe into the 2015 desecration of Sikh texts and subsequent police firing on protesters or power cuts in the state. Speculation is rife that Sidhu, a former Bharatiya Janata Party leader, may bag a bigger role in the planned revamp. Sidhu met the Gandhi siblings a few days ago but was tightlipped on what had transpired between them.
Last month, chief minister Singh had appeared before a three-member panel of the All India Congress Committee headed by Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, but returned to Chandigarh without an audience with either Sonia or Rahul Gandhi. The panel has asked him to deliver on 18 pending promises, including the sacrilege issue.
Rahul Gandhi has also met many leaders, including the party’s legislators from Punjab, seeking their views on what could be done to put the house in order ahead of the 2022 elections.
Last month, senior Congress leader Harish Rawat, who is in charge of Punjab affairs, said Sonia Gandhi would resolve all issues related to the state by early July and the party will contest the 2022 elections unitedly.
