Congress keeps eye on Punjab leaders close to Amarinder Singh
Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Nov, 2021 10:32 AM
New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS) The Congress is closely watching former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's moves and the leaders who have close ties with him. The state unit has been tasked to placate such leaders or arrange a meeting with the high command.
The state unit is reaching out to leaders at the district level while heavyweight leaders are being approached by the AICC. Punjab Congress In-charge Harish Chaudhary has been asked to manage the disgruntled groups in the party and also coordinate with state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had last week met four MLAs who were dropped from the cabinet and are considered close to Amarinder Singh. They are Balbir Singh Sidhu, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Sunder Sham Arora and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and were reportedly given assurances on their interests in the party.
Rahul Gandhi also took feedback from Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and discussed strategy to keep the flock together.
Three Punjab MPs considered close to Amarinder Singh have kept the Congress on its toes - Manish Tewari, Mohd Sadique and Praneet Kaur, wife of the Chief Minister. Tewari did not reply to queries when reached out for comments on the issue though he has been of late critical of the party leaders.
Manish Tewari, last week had said, "I have never seen such chaos & anarchy as what is playing out in Punjab Congress today. Repeated open defiance of AICC by a PCC President, colleagues squabbling publicly with each other like children."
Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had been saying that many people from the party were in touch with him and they will come out in the open when the time comes. "We are waiting for the opportune moment. But I will not take their names. Already my supporters are being harassed," said Amarinder Singh.
The Congress has been upset since the ex-Chief Minister announced that he will contest all 117 seats and probably forge an alliance with the BJP. The move can upset Congress equations in the state.
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.
According to orders, he would also be the Principal Secretary, Personnel and Vigilance, besides Financial Commissioner, Development, and Principal Secretary, Food Processing, Horticulture and Governance Reforms and Public Grievances.
Senior SAD leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra, Maheshinder Grewal and Daljit Cheema on Tuesday said it was most unfortunate that even after admitting that some wrong elements wanted to defame the 'kisan sangharsh', Rajewal had neither secured an unconditional apology from those guilty of hooliganism nor subjected them to the process of law.
The Prime minister further said that the visit would be an occasion to consolidate relations with our strategic partners - Japan and Australia - and to take forward our collaboration on important global issues. In a departure statement, the Prime Minister said he will be visiting the US from September 22-25 at the invitation of President Joe Biden.
The Director-General of WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that it is an important development in support of reaching the 40 per cent vaccination target in all countries by the end of this year.
The charge made by the BJP functionary comes a day after Kejriwal during his visit to poll-bound Goa on Tuesday, announced 80 per cent reservation in private sector jobs, Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 doles for the unemployed youth and families who have lost employment due to Covid respectively as well as setting up of a Skill university in the state.
