Sidhu-Channi patch up in Punjab after Ambika Soni named coordination panel chief
Darpan News Desk IANS, 15 Dec, 2021 12:42 PM
New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) After Ambika Soni was appointed Chairman of the election coordination committee in Punjab the warring factions of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and State Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu have called a truce. Soni is a senior Congress leader and was said to be the top choice of Sonia Gandhi for the Chief Minister's post after Amarinder Singh's exit but she had reportedly declined.
A Rajya Sabha member and close aide of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her inception in Punjab affairs has caused suspicion among the leaders in Punjab who were fighting a turf war. Soni could be reckoned to be the choice of the high command if Congress returns to power as a consensus candidate.
Sources say sensing the move from the Congress high command the warring factions have patched up to put up a united face and also don't want to send a negative signal to the leadership. Sidhu who has been critical of the Punjab Chief Minister has heaped praises after the state government approached the Supreme Court over the BSF jurisdiction issue.
After the exit of Amarinder, the Congress in Punjab had to appoint Harish Chaudhary replacing Harish Rawat as the new in-charge of the state and had to hold a series of meetings to sort out differences between the two leaders. However, it was not able to restrain Sidhu from speaking against his own government.
On December 6 Sonia Gandhi appointed Ambika Soni as Chairman of the coordination committee, another sulking leader Sunil Jakhar as chairman of the campaign committee and Partap Singh Bajwa as the manifesto committee chairman. Navjot Singh Sidhu has been appointed Chairman of the state election committee and a meeting was called in Chandigarh on Wednesday.
All the three leaders have been contenders for the Chief Minister's post. Jakhar missed the bus because Ambika wanted a Sikh Chief Minister while Bajwa was the only leader who was against Amarinder Singh as he was removed as the state President ahead of the assembly polls in 2017 but he could not make it.
Ambika Soni, declined to become Chief Minister and had proposed the name if Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa as she said, "I have declined because I sincerely believe that a Sikh should be the CM of Punjab." But it was Channi who emerged as consensus candidate for both being a Sikh and from a Scheduled Caste community as the Congress wanted to tap the community.
A delegation of Sikh leaders on Tuesday met Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy over the recent incident of forcible religious conversion of two Sikh girls in the Kashmir valley and submitted a memorandum in this regard.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday favoured the need to start breeding crocodiles in the state's rivers, especially the Beas and the Sutlej, as they were found in abundance six decades ago.
Facing massive statewide agitation by farmers over power outages, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday issued directions to ensure eight-hour uninterrupted power supply and to purchase deficient power from outside the state at any cost to prevent any supply disruption in the ongoing sowing season.
Bengaluru City Police Commissioner, Kamal Pant, told reporters that the police teams were forced to open fire after firing warning shots in the air as the accused persons resisted the search teams' efforts to nab them.
On the occasion of Bhagat Kabir Ji Jayanti, the Chief Minister also announced that his government will soon disburse Rs 560 crore to the landless farm labourers under the Debt Waiver Scheme.
