Will resolve issues flagged by Navjot Singh Sidhu: Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday said the issues flagged by PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu will be resolved even as he rejected reports of any differences between the party and government.
Asked about the issues flagged by Sidhu in his letter to Sonia, Channi said, “It may be an agenda with 13 points, 18 points, 21 points or 24 points, all if it is being implemented in letter and spirit. None of the issues will be left out. If you feel there are any differences, I can make Navjot Singh Sidhu sit here in the next (cabinet) meeting. We will collectively resolve all issues. The party is supreme.”
He added that it was the duty of the state party president to keep the party high command aware about the matters concerning the state, but that does not reflect any palpable differences between the party and the government.
Channi and Sidhu had discussed ways to implement the 13-point agenda of the AICC on Sunday night, including the proposals to cancel the power purchase agreements (PPAs) and affordable power tariff. Elaborating on the meeting, Sidhu’s wife and former MLA Navjot Kaur said on Monday, “The meeting went past midnight on these issues. There are a host of legalities that are involved in taking these decisions. There was discussion on how to nullify the PPAs and the team of the advocate general is studying the clauses so that there is to legal hassle.”
On Sidhu’s letter to the Congress president, she added, “There was a team of officials that worked parallelly for both Congress and Akalis. There was talk of putting in place a team who can undo the wrongdoings of the previous regime. That is why there was praise for transport minister Amrinder Singh Raja Warring.” She said her husband was not allowed to do the kind of work he wanted to do, so he quit cabinet and continued his work as an MLA.
Regarding Sidhu’s 13-point agenda, she said it would be fulfilled as “it has the nod from Rahul Gandhi and accordingly messages have been disseminated to persons concerned”. An all-new team had been constituted to serve the people and even ministers wouldn’t hesitate from mingling with commoners to know the issues to the core, she said.
Dr Sidhu said she knew that her husband would not let her contest elections from the Amritsar East assembly constituency but she would continue to work on it. On the issue of extension of the jurisdiction of BSF, she said it would be better if Centre and state work together to eradicate the menace of drugs from Punjab.
Reacting to the alleged Pakistan connections of her husband, she said he had gone there to participate in the swearing-in ceremony of his friend which helped to open the Kartarpur Corridor. He never went to Pakistan after that, she said. There were people in India who have Pakistani guests living in their houses, she said but refused to name anyone.In the letter to the Congress president on October 15, a day after he had meetings with senior party leaders in Delhi, Sidhu pitched for a “Punjab Model with a 13-Point Agenda to be part of the Congress manifesto for the 2022 Assembly Elections”.
After a marathon meeting on Sunday night, Sidhu is again learnt to have again met AICC observer Harish Choudhary on Monday to give his opinion on the party’s strategy for the 2022 assembly elections. On Sunday, the party leadership also had presentations by campaign strategist companies seeking to be hired by the Congress in Punjab.
“There was earlier a decision to have a joint party-government panel and what we are witnessing through these meetings is just that. The party high command, in its wisdom, has decided not to formally announce the panel as it could be portrayed as interference in government affairs,” said a party leader.
In the letter to the Congress president on October 15, a day after he had meetings with senior party leaders in Delhi, Sidhu pitched for a “Punjab Model with a 13-Point Agenda to be part of the Congress manifesto for the 2022 Assembly Elections”.
After a marathon meeting on Sunday night, Sidhu is again learnt to have again met AICC observer Harish Choudhary on Monday to give his opinion on the party’s strategy for the 2022 assembly elections. On Sunday, the party leadership also had presentations by campaign strategist companies seeking to be hired by the Congress in Punjab.
“There was earlier a decision to have a joint party-government panel and what we are witnessing through these meetings is just that. The party high command, in its wisdom, has decided not to formally announce the panel as it could be portrayed as interference in government affairs,” said a party leader.