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4 Punjab ministers rebel against Capt Amarinder
Ministers Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Singh Channi and Sukhbinder Sarkaria besides MLA Pargat Singh among 20 Congress legislators express lack of faith in CM over pending poll promises
Four cabinet ministers and several MLAs on Tuesday declared open rebellion against chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, expressing their total “lack of faith” in him.
Cabinet ministers Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Singh Channi and Sukhbinder Sarkaria, Punjab Congress general secretary (organisation) Pargat Singh and around two dozen legislators, who met at Bajwa’s official residence in Chandigarh, declared that they do not have faith in the chief minister’s ability to fulfil the pending election promises, indirectly pushing for his replacement.
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“We have lost faith in him (Amarinder), but changing the CM is the prerogative of the party high command,” Randhawa told reporters after the meeting.
Five-member delegation to meet Sonia
The disgruntled leaders also authorised a five-member delegation, including four cabinet ministers and Pargat, all known detractors of Amarinder, to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and apprise her of their sentiment at the earliest.
Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, the most strident critic of the chief minister, was not present at the meeting. However, the four ministers and Pargat, who declined to disclose the number of MLAs at the meeting, will have a discussion with him before leaving for Delhi to meet the central leaders.
The detractors’ meeting came as Sidhu was feeling the heat over his advisers’ controversial remarks over Kashmir and Pakistan.
The Congress has 80 MLAs in Punjab.
After the meeting, Channi told reporters that the MLAs who assembled in Chandigarh were worried over the unfulfilled poll promises made by the Congress before the 2017 assembly elections. “A lot of promises have been fulfilled, but those promises (the implementation of) which may lead to friction with the opposition remain unfulfilled,” he said.
He said that the issues were not getting resolved the way the Congress wanted, and they had been promised. “We no longer trust that these issues will be resolved. Therefore, we are seeking time from the party high command for a meeting, and we will meet them and put forth our issues so that Punjab’s issues can be resolved,” said Channi, flanked by Randhawa, Bajwa and Pargat.
Capt camp hits back, wants action against Sidhu advisers
Amid rebellion by four ministers and several MLAs who have been supporting Sidhu, a group of cabinet ministers and MLAs called for strong action against the state Congress president’s advisers Malwinder Singh Mali and Pyare Lal Garg for their “patently anti-national and pro-Pak comments”.
“The statements of both these newly appointed advisers of Punjab Congress president Navjot Sidhu were clearly against India’s interests, and detrimental to national security,” said cabinet ministers Brahm Mohindra, Vijay Inder Singla, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Balbir Singh Sidhu and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, along with MLA Raj Kumar Verka in a statement.
Besides stringent legal action against Mali and Garg, they also urged the Congress national leadership to direct Sidhu to immediately rein in his aides in the interest of the party, and the country. “The Congress has made many sacrifices for the protection of the nation’s security and peace, as have our soldiers at the borders. Nobody can or should be allowed to undermine these sacrifices and jeopardise the safety of our country and its people,” they emphasised, citing, in particular, the grave implications such statements could have for the border state of Punjab.
The Congress leaders also questioned Sidhu’s failure to put his foot down on such “anti-national and pro-Pak diatribe” by his aides, despite the justified uproar it has triggered across party lines. Sidhu’s omission in this regard had given ammunition to the opposition parties, which were quick to recall the PPCC president’s own bonhomie with the Pakistan Prime Minister and army chief, they pointed out, warning against the massive damage this could cause to the Congress in the run-up to the 2022 Punjab elections, which are due in less than six months.
They termed Mali’s statement on Kashmir a dangerous and unacceptable deviation from India’s stated position on J&K. By questioning the unanimous 1994 resolution of Parliament, declaring Jammu & Kashmir an integral of India (which was reiterated in 2012), Mali had blatantly toed the line of Pakistan, which had been trying to stake claim to the region and was in illegal occupation of certain areas, such as PoK, they added.
Even Garg’s statement countering chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s criticism of Pakistan reflected his pro-Pak leanings, they said, adding that anyone not condemning the continuous efforts from across the border to destabilise Punjab and India was playing into the hands of the enemy. “Drones from Pakistan are dumping arms and drugs into Punjab almost every day. Our soldiers are dying at the border. How can any patriotic Indian not condemn Pak actions in the circumstances?” they asked.
