Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 29

The Congress panel on Punjab affairs will kickstart its proceedings from Monday with one-on-one meetings, starting with state unit president Sunil Jakhar.

The panel, led by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, met at AICC headquarters this morning for three hours. It decided to conduct meetings with state leaders, starting with the PCC chief, MLAs and then ministers, MPs, past presidents and finally the CM. “The panel plans to wind up discussions with MLAs by the first week of June,” AICC general secretary incharge of Punjab Harish Rawat said.

Asked under what category former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu would fall for the purpose of deliberations, he replied: “Sidhu is an important leader of Punjab. He can come as an MLA or separately as he wants.” The panel would hold physical meetings with the leaders in Delhi. “Virtual interactions are not on the table yet,” Rawat said. “We will start deliberations from Monday. Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar will come to meet us on Monday after which we will meet MLAs, ministers, MPs, important state leaders and past state chiefs. Among the senior leaders, we will meet Ambika Soni, Partap Singh Bajwa, Shamsher Singh Dullo and Ashwani Kumar,” he said, adding, “We are going into the process of consultation with an open mind. There are no pre-conceived ideas.”

The committee will submit its report to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for a final call. The challenge is to accommodate Sidhu and take along other tall leaders of Punjab.