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Navjot Singh Sidhu meets Rahul Gandhi in Delhi amid turbulence in Punjab Congress
The meet comes on the day Sidhu met Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in what has been termed as "long meeting" by the Punjab leader.
Miffed Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu met party leader Rahul Gandhi at his Delhi residence on Wednesday evening amid reports of turbulence in the party's Punjab unit ahead of the state Assembly elections next year.
The meet comes on the day Sidhu met Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in what has been termed as "long meeting" by the Punjab leader. Priyanka held a meeting with Sidhu at her residence this morning.
After meeting Sidhu, Priyanka went to Rahul Gandhi's residence and had a 40-45-minutes-long meeting with him, reported news agency ANI.
Post this round of meeting with Rahul, Priyanka again held a meeting with Sidhu at her residence.
Also read: ‘Capt Amarinder is not the Congress... he lies every day’, says Navjot Singh Sidhu
The cracks from the infighting appeared for the public view after Sidhu, who is critical of party leader and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, accused him of colluding with the Badals of the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Congress’s arch-rival in Punjab.
Sidhu arrived in Delhi on Monday ahead of his meeting with the Gandhis and was scheduled to meet the leaders. The meeting has been dubbed as a crucial one for the party which does not want to part ways with the cricketer-turned-politician.
Rahul Gandhi has attempted to address the growing factionalism in Congress’ Punjab unit. He held one-to-one meetings with over 20 party leaders from the state last week.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi formed a three-member committee to resolve the rift. In its report on June 10, the panel suggested that Sidhu be suitably accommodated in the state unit.
Also read: Sidhu meets Priyanka Gandhi amid rumblings within Congress’s Punjab unit
Sidhu has expressed his desire to be the state unit chief. But the chief minister, the biggest vote-catcher for the party in the poll-bound state, is averse to the idea. Differences between the two led to Sidhu’s resignation from the state Cabinet in July 2019.
In their last seen episode of contention, former Punjab minister Sidhu on May 21 challenged CM Singh to prove that he had met any leader of another party for switching sides.
“Prove one meeting that I have had with another party’s leader. I have never asked anyone for any post till date. All I seek is Punjab’s prosperity. Was invited and offered Cabinet berths many times but I did not accept. Now, our esteemed high command has intervened, Will wait,” the Amritsar East MLA tweeted.
Amarinder and Sidhu had met over tea in March following reports that the Congress central leadership had been trying to rehabilitate the MLA who had resigned as minister after he was divested of the local bodies portfolio in 2019. After the meeting, Amarinder had expressed confidence that Sidhu would be back in his cabinet.
Sidhu had joined the Congress after leaving the BJP before the 2017 assembly elections.
