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Sidhu invites Captain to elevation event, sends note signed by 60 Punjab MLAs
Navjot Singh Sidhu is said to have invited All India Congress Committee member and in-charge of the party’s affair in Punjab, Harish Rawat, to the programme where he will take charge as party president.
Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu will take charge as the party’s Punjab unit president on July 23 and has sent an invite to chief minister Amarinder Singh for the event. The cricketer-turned-politician is said to have invited All India Congress Committee member and in-charge of the party’s affair in Punjab, Harish Rawat, to the programme.
According to news agency ANI, the invitation sent to Singh, a retired Army Captain has been signed by about 60 Congress legislators. The ruling camp has about 80 MLAs in the state.
Earlier in the day, about 60 of the lawmakers, including a number of ministers, turned up at Sidhu’s Amritsar residence in an apparent show of strength amid the ongoing power tussle between the new Congress president and the chief minister. Singh
On Tuesday, the CM’s advisor Raveen Thukral said Singh will not meet Sidhu until the latter publicly apologised for the personal derogatory social media attacks against him. The duo have been at loggerheads ever since the Amritsar (East) MLA attacked the CM over the Guru Granth Sahib desecration cases.
Singh had also reportedly written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, expressing his reservations over the appointment of Sidhu as the state unit chief, stating the move could have an "adverse" impact on the party's prospects in the assembly elections which are likely to take place early next year.
The central Congress leadership had formed a three-member team, comprising Rawat and senior party leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and JP Aggarwal to resolve the months-long crisis in one of the remaining few states where the grand old party is in power. However, there seems to be no end to the feud at present.
