Captain to meet Sonia in Delhi on Tuesday amid infighting in Punjab Cong unit

The Punjab chief minister was in Delhi twice last month to meet the three-member central panel constituted under Rajya Sabha member Mallikarjun Kharge to look at the crisis in Punjab, but did not get an audience with the Gandhis. He had sought time from the Congress president who has now called him for a discussion, according to sources.

Punjab chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is slated to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday amid efforts by the high command to resolve the factionalism in the party’s state unit ahead of the assembly polls due early next year.

Capt Amarinder Singh’s meeting with Sonia comes days after disgruntled ex-minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is at loggerheads with him, met former party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Sidhu has been counting on Priyanka and Rahul for support in his standoff with the two-time chief minister. (HT photo)

Amarinder will leave for Delhi in the morning and call on the Congress president late in the afternoon, people familiar with the matter said. The chief minister was in Delhi twice last month to meet the three-member central panel constituted under Rajya Sabha member Mallikarjun Kharge to look at the crisis in Punjab, but did not get an audience with the Gandhis. He had sought time from the Congress president who has now called him for a discussion, according to sources.

The CM’s meeting with Sonia comes days after disgruntled ex-minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is at loggerheads with him, met former party president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Sidhu has been counting on Priyanka and Rahul for support in his standoff with the two-time chief minister.

“Tuesday’s meeting is an indication that discussions on resolving the rift in Punjab Congress have entered the phase of final decision-making on how to accommodate Sidhu,” said a senior state leader who did not want to be identified. While Sidhu wants to head the Punjab Congress, the chief minister is opposed to having him in that role.

All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge Punjab affairs Harish Rawat had, on June 24, stated that the Congress president would take a decision on the government and organisational set-ups by July 8-10. While Sidhu’s team said he is back in Patiala, his continued attacks on the chief minister and the state government on the ongoing power crisis and power purchase agreements (PPAs) have left some of his party colleagues confounded and some of them are apprehensive about the rift worsening in case there is no quick decision.