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Kharge panel discusses party rejig, pending poll promises with Captain
Capt Amarinder met the committee headed by leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge at the latter’s Parliament House office in Delhi. The committee, which also has Congress general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat and former Delhi MP Jai Prakash Agarwal as members, discussed with him the implementation status of the 2017 poll manifesto, revamp of the party’s organisational set-up and preparations for the coming elections
Amid growing tension in the ruling Congress, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had a three-hour meeting on Tuesday with the three-member committee set up to end the factionalism in the party’s state unit ahead of next year’s assembly polls even as some ministers and MLAs conveyed to the central leadership their displeasure over former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s public statements.
Capt Amarinder met the committee headed by leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge at the latter’s Parliament House office in Delhi. The committee, which also has Congress general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat and former Delhi MP Jai Prakash Agarwal as members, discussed with him the implementation status of the 2017 poll manifesto, revamp of the party’s organizational set-up and preparations for the coming elections, said one of the members on the condition of anonymity.
He said the panel specifically asked the chief minister about the pending poll announcements, including justice in sacrilege and police firing cases, action against drug dealers and the annulment of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with independent power producers, that have been raised by the dissenters.
Amarinder, while informing the trio on the progress made on election promises, specifically briefed them about the status of probe into sacrilege and police firing cases, with an assurance to implement the pending ones within the next six months, according to sources close to him.
“The committee members were informed that the special investigation team report in Kotkapura firing incident was quashed by the court and the new SIT had already made quick progress,” they said. The CM’s one-to-one audience with the central panel – their second meeting in less than three weeks – came on the day the SIT questioned SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, who was the chief minister at the time of the 2015 police firing, for two hours.
Hindustan Times has learnt that the panel is expected to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi tomorrow to update her about the issues. However, the problem between Amarinder and Sidhu may have got exacerbated with both taking a ‘maximalist’ position according to one person who didn’t want to be identified.
The CM told committee members that they should make a fair assessment about what each person brought to the table. While he was willing to go along with whatever the party decided, he wanted them to see the troubles Sidhu was stirring with his public outbursts against the CM. Capt’s side seemed to be upset that Sidhu drew his support from Priyanka and Rahul. “The problem is we need both CM and Sidhu so we have to work it out,” said the leader quoted above.
The other issue, said the above leader, was the choice of deputy chief ministers or PCC chiefs. Both Sidhu and the CM are from Patiala and so the central leadership is looking for another deputy candidate that would balance out regional representation. The discussions with the CM were also about rollout of Dalit- oriented schemes as they form 30% of the population in the state.
Amarinder later also met senior party leader Ambika Soni, who is also a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, at her Lodhi Estate residence over lunch. Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, who met Kharge after the committee’s meeting with the CM, said Rahul is having a close look at everything and the party’s set-up in the state would be revamped within the next few days. Though the CM was scheduled to return to Chandigarh on Tuesday, he decided to spend one more day in the national capital. (WITH INPUTS FROM DELHI)
