Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 6

In the middle of an ongoing exercise to resolve factional wars in the poll-bound Punjab, state Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday met party president Sonia Gandhi and said whatever she decided on the issue would be acceptable to him.

Key role likely for Sidhu

• Capt shares progress on 18 poll promises with Sonia
• CM sticks to his stand on Sidhu: no PCC chief post, can be given dy chief ministership
• CM backs a Dalit, Hindu or OBC as PCC chief
• Amarinder to continue steering the govt in Punjab
• Important role likely for Navjot Sidhu in party, say sources

Bittu, Verka meet CM

Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and MLA Raj Kumar Verka met the CM at his residence and backed his leadership. Bittu said, “Capt Amarinder is the party’s face for five years and we will fight elections under him.” Verka also backed the CM and said a resolution to the Punjab issue would be found soon.

After a nearly 80-minute meeting with Sonia at her 10 Janpath residence, the CM said the party was “geared up for the 2022 Assembly elections.”

“Whatever decisions the Congress president takes, we will implement in Punjab. The decisions she takes on anything — the party or the government — will be acceptable to us and we will implement them,” said Amarinder, who has earlier held two meetings with the AICC panel that Sonia had constituted to resolve the issue. Asked if the role of former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was discussed today, the CM said, “I do not know anything about Mr Sidhu. We only discussed government’s work. Political issues were also discussed.”

Sonia had also called AICC Punjab panel chairman Mallikarjun Kharge for the meeting where, sources said, “the roadmap for the future was discussed though ultra-specific formulations do not appear to have come up”.

The CM is also said to have informed Sonia of the steps he was taking to implement the 18 poll promises of the party and expand people’s outreach, as earlier advised by the AICC panel.

The sources said Sonia heard the CM on the impending reshuffle and would now take a decision after considering all the inputs before her.

“The meeting was also meant to give the impression that the leadership was available to the Chief Minister since Rahul and Priyankaji had met Mr Sidhu recently. The idea is to find a way in which principal political factors are duly considered, including caste and community combinations, in the allocation of responsibilities in the party and the government,” said a source.

An AICC functionary said the attempt was to bring about a workable arrangement between the CM and Sidhu and balance the aspirations of the traditional Congress. The CM’s stand on “no PCC chief post to Sidhu” was also stated, the sources added.

“The CM expressed his views on various issues and was heard. The ball is now in Congress chief’s court,” a source said, adding that Sonia has a very complex balancing act to strike.