Sidhu meets PK after poll strategist declines Cong offer
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Apr, 2022 10:20 AM
New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) Former Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday met election strategist Prashant Kishor after the latter declined the offer to join the Congress.
After the meeting, Sidhu tweeted: "Had a wonderful meeting with my old friend PK... Old wine, Old gold and Old friends still the best!!!"
Sidhu has been left out in the cold ever since the party lost the elections in Punjab earlier this year. He was asked to resign after the party appointed Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as the new President of Punjab Congress. Since then the Congress has set up a new team in Punjab, reportedly annoying the former state Congress chief.
Meanwhile, after declining the offer to join the Congress on Tuesday, Kishor said the party needs leadership and collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems.
"I declined the generous offer of #Congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections," Kishor tweeted.
"In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms," he added.
The Congress on Tuesday officially announced that election Kishor will not be working for the party as he declined to be part of the empowered action group for the 2024 general elections.
The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he "personally" feels that alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab had cost the BJP heavily.
India on Tuesday recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 per cent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 per cent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 per cent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
On Monday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, a bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the court will set up a committee headed by a retired top court judge to probe the PM's security breach and asked both the Centre and Punjab government to not move ahead with their respective inquiries into the matter.
Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are projected to poll 40 per cent and 36 per cent votes in Punjab, respectively, as per the ABP-CVOTER Battle for the States survey. The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
