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Public spat between Sidhu, Brinder Dhillon overshadows Cong protest
Chandigarh : A public spat between former state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Punjab Youth Congress president Brinder Singh Dhillon overshadowed the protest held by the Punjab Congress in Chandigarh on Thursday against rising fuel prices in the country
Chandigarh : A public spat between former state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Punjab Youth Congress president Brinder Singh Dhillon overshadowed the protest held by the Punjab Congress in Chandigarh on Thursday against rising fuel prices in the country.
The verbal spat took place when Sidhu, while addressing the party workers outside the state Congress headquarters here, targeted some party leaders for being “beimaan” (dishonest) but without naming them. Dhillon interrupted the former state Congress president, daring him to name the leaders or stop making such sweeping statements. “You are doing a drama. You should name such leaders. If you cannot name, then do not say anything,” Dhillon said.
The former state unit chief, however, refused to take any names. Both Sidhu and Dhillon kept speaking over each other. Amid slogan shouting by supporters of the two leaders, some others, including party spokesperson Rana Baljit Chahal, also joined the argument. Sidhu had to stop his speech and the dharna was wound up.
Congress MLAs Partap Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Pargat Singh, former minister Gurkirat Singh Kotli, former speaker Rana KP Singh and former legislator Lakhvir Singh Lakha were among those attended the protest. Later, some of them also held a meeting at the party office.
The high drama again brought out the deep divisions in the Punjab Congress. The dharna (sit-in) against the central government was the first state-level protest held by the party since its embarrassing defeat in the assembly polls in Punjab and four other states last month. Sidhu was among the five state presidents who were asked to resign following the party’s poor showing. A group of party leaders, mostly ex-MLAs, have been holding meetings and pushing for his reappointment as the state president.
Addressing the gathering earlier, Sidhu, who began by slamming the Aam Aadmi Party government and chief minister Bhagwant Mann, pressed for promoting leaders with clean image for the revival of the party in the state. “I will be first to take a stand if any false FIR is lodged against any leader, but if money is recovered from anyone’s house, I will not stand with him. I am not going to support the corrupt,” the former PPCC chief said only to be interrupted by his party colleague.
Dhillon later put out a post on Twitter to appeal to party leaders to unite and fight for public, not for individual glorification. “No fight against any individual, we should not be throwing mud at each other as it was a collective defeat. We have suffered because of infighting and if we do not course correct, we will be finished. Time to stand together and fight for public not for individual glorification,” he tweeted.
Randhawa said the spat between Sidhu and Dhillon has sent a wrong message to party workers. “Before we could come out of the shock of defeat in the state polls, such things are happening. This is bad for the party. When such things happen, we feel hurt,” he told reporters before hitting out at the former state Congress chief.
Channi hits out at Jakhar
Former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi hit out at former state unit president Sunil Jakhar for making “objectionable” remarks against the poor. “Jakhar belongs to a big family. His statement shows his mentality that he was against the poor. It deserves to be condemned,” Channi said after meeting former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.
Jakhar had on Wednesday faced flak from several party leaders who accused him of using objectionable language against Channi. The former state chief, however, said that his comments were being distorted.
