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.
The joint call to action comes from non-attainment cities like Ludhiana, Amritsar, Khanna, Patiala and others reeling under poor air quality, and not just during winters.
In his address in the Assembly's special session to mark the commemoration of 400th Prakash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur, he stressed that the Sikh faith is distinguished by the tradition of martyrdom to uphold principles and righteousness given to "us by our great Gurus".
A total of 40.8 per cent people have shown satisfaction with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the five states going to the polls next year, while 41.3 per cent showed dissatisfaction with him, as per the ABP-CVOTER-IANS BATTLE FOR THE STATES - WAVE 1.
According to the ABP-CVOTER-IANS BATTLE FOR THE STATES - WAVE 1, the goodwill of the Union government remains the same except in Punjab, which is up against the Centre over the three farm laws.
The survey found that overall, 13.3 per cent said the 'country is moving forward but not my life', 29.3 per cent said the 'country is moving forward and my life too', while 5 per cent said that 'life is improving but the country is in poor state'.
A day earlier, Customs officials had recovered 495 grams of gold valued at Rs 24.14 lakh from a passenger on his arrival from Dubai. The gold was concealed in various items like a blender, facial cream box, and sandals. A case for smuggling of gold was registered. Further investigation is in progress, an official said.
