Ahead of Assembly polls, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday met the three-member panel headed by Mallikarjun Kharge to resolve infighting within the Congress’ state unit.
Singh met the panel at the Congress headquarters at Akbar Road in New Delhi. After the meeting, Singh said, It was an internal discussion and so I will not divulge about it. Assembly elections are due in the next six months. We all are getting ready to face it, he told reporters.
The panel, constituted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, sought to resolve factionalism in the Punjab unit, differences with MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu, and take steps to strengthen the party at the grassroots level. Besides Kharge, former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat and former MP J P Aggarwal are members of the panel.
A war of words between Amarinder Singh and his former cabinet colleague Navjot Singh Sidhu took place, when Sidhu publicly attacked the chief minister over an SIT report on the sacrilege issue in Punjab.
Sidhu had claimed that Singh wanted to save the real culprits and was functioning in tandem with the Shiromani Akali Dal. Singh, however, has denied the allegations and openly challenged Navjot Singh Sidhu, demanding action against him for indulging in party indiscipline.
Meanwhile, the panel is likely to present a report to Sonia Gandhi by the weekend of early next week. According to sources, a change in the Punjab cabinet and party is imminent ahead of the polls.
In the bid to unite all factions, Sidhu may be included in the cabinet once again and elevated as deputy chief minister, along with some others including a Hindu and a Dalit face in Punjab, as per news agency PTI reports.