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AICC panel submits report on Punjab Congress infighting to Sonia Gandhi
The panel was chaired by Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab Harish Rawat and former MP JP Agarwal.
The three-member panel set up to end factionalism in the Punjab state unit of Congress submitted its report to Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, people familiar with the developments told news agency PTI.
Captain digs in heels at meet over infighting
The panel was chaired by Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab Harish Rawat and former MP JP Agarwal. The panel has suggested that all sections, castes and regions be accommodated in the party revamp. People familiar with the developments also said that Navjot Singh Sidhu will be ‘suitably accommodated’ in the revamp and Sidhu’s name is doing rounds for elevation to the post of deputy chief minister.
'My stand on CM still same': Sidhu to Cong panel
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh met the panel last week and the panel asked the chief minister about unfulfilled poll promises, his lack of accessibility and “over dependence” on the bureaucracy, according to a report by HT. The panel also met 150 party leaders, including present and ex-state unit presidents, ministers, MPs and other leaders who voiced their suggestions and grievances.
The panel also spoke to Amarinder Singh about the Bargari sacrilege case and Kotkapura firing probe which were earlier raised by several party leaders, including Punjab MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu. The former cricketer on June 1 met the Congress panel and accused Amarinder Singh of shielding the Badal family in the sacrilege case, police firing and blamed the chief minister for a botched-up probe in the Kotkapura case.
“My stand remains unchanged, I feel that the democratic power of people which goes to the government in the form of taxes should go back to the people. Every citizen must be made a shareholder in the progress of the state. The truth can be punished but it cannot be defeated. We have to make the truth victorious against the anti-Punjab forces,” Sidhu said after meeting the panel. He was also joined by Pargat Singh, another MLA considered close to Sidhu, who raised questions over the chief minister's ways of governance and also highlighted the public perception about Captain and the Badals being close.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will take a decision on the recommendations made by the panel.
(with inputs from PTI)
