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Punjab set to get new chief minister today
Congress Legislature Party meet scheduled for 11am deferred at eleventh hour; observers calling up party MLAs to reach consensus on CLP leader, who will be the new CM after Capt Amarinder quit
The Congress is set to name the new chief minister of Punjab on Sunday with former state Congress president Sunil Jakhar and incumbent president Navjot Singh Sidhu emerging as the frontrunners.
However, the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), which was to meet at the Punjab Congress Bhawan in Chandigarh at 11am to elect the new leader, was deferred at the eleventh hour.
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The meeting, which was to be held in the presence of All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat and two central observers Ajay Maken and Harish Chaudhary, is learnt to have been deferred as a consensus is yet to be reached on the name of the new CLP leader.
The CLP had on Saturday passed a resolution, authorising Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take the final decision.
The central observers are now calling up the party MLAs to reach a consensus on the CLP leader, who will be the new CM after Capt Amarinder Singh resigned on Saturday evening.
The state elections are less than five months away.
Going to the polls with Hindu-Sikh combination
“The Congress high command is keen on going into the polls with a Hindu-Sikh combination. Since Sidhu heads the state unit, the choice for the CM has narrowed down to Soni, Jakhar and cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra for the Hindu CM face,” according to party leaders familiar with the developments.
While Congress president Sonia Gandhi is learnt to have thrown her weight behind Rajya Sabha MP Ambika Soni, her son and former chief Rahul Gandhi is backing Jakhar. Soni opted out of the race and reportedly told the Congress leadership that a Sikh should be made the chief minister.
“With a Hindu CM, the party may also go in for two deputy CMs – a Jat Sikh and a Dalit leader,” one of the persons quoted above said. However, some MLAs, who met Rawat and the two central observers on the sidelines of the CLP meeting on Saturday, pushed for a Sikh CM.
Punjab has never had a non-Sikh CM since the reorganisation of the state in 1966.
Sidhu, who was named the state unit president two months ago, Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa and cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa are among the Sikh leaders whose names are doing the rounds in party circles. A few MLAs conveyed their preference for Sidhu as the leader of the CLP. Randhawa and Sidhu are learnt to have conveyed their preference for Soni in case the party decides to opt for a Hindu chief minister, the person quoted above said.
However, a few others stressed that the new leader should be from among the MLAs. Soni, Jakhar and Bajwa are not MLAs.
Capt not going to take ‘humiliation’ lying down
Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh was pushed to resign from the post after the Congress central leadership summoned a meeting of the party MLAs, saying that he feels “humiliated”.
He had submitted his resignation along with that of his council of ministers to governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhawan half an hour before the CLP meeting. “This is the third time they (Congress high command) have called the MLAs. Apparently, they do not have confidence in me and didn’t think I could handle my job. But I felt humiliated at the manner in which they handled the whole affair,” the two-time former CM told reporters outside the Raj Bhawan after submitting his resignation on Saturday evening, dropping enough hints that he is not going to take his humiliation lying down.
The governor accepted the resignation of Capt Amarinder Singh as chief minister and that of his council of ministers. He asked Amarinder and his council of ministers to continue in office, for transaction of routine business, till alternative arrangements are made, according to an official statement.
