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Journey has just begun, says Sidhu; no meeting with CM yet
The 57-year-old cricketer-turned-politician, who had a busy day calling on leaders and ministers, thanked the Congress leadership for appointing him head of the Punjab unit, asserted he would strengthen the party’s organisation in the state.
Announcing that his journey has “just begun”, Punjab Congress’s new president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday pledged to work with every “member of the Congress family” to fulfil the “Jittega Punjab” mission, a day after being appointed to the key post after months of a bitter spat between him and chief minister Amarinder Singh.
The 57-year-old cricketer-turned-politician, who had a busy day calling on leaders and ministers, thanked the Congress leadership for appointing him head of the Punjab unit, asserted he would strengthen the party’s organisation in the state.
Assembly polls in the Congress-ruled state are due next year.
“Today, to work further for the same dream and strengthen the invincible fort of the Congress in Punjab. I am grateful to Hon’ble Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi for bestowing their faith in me and giving me this pivotal responsibility,” he said on Twitter.
“Will work along every member of Congress family in Punjab to fulfil the mission of ‘JittegaPunjab’ as a humble Congress worker to give power of the people back to the people through the Punjab model and the high command’s 18-point agenda ... My journey has just begun,” Sidhu said in another tweet.
Sidhu, whose appointment was announced on Sunday night, spent the entire day visiting Cabinet ministers and other senior leaders of the party in Chandigarh and Mohali, but his much-anticipated meeting with the chief minister did not materialise even though they were within a few hundred metres of each other at one point of time.
The new state Congress head was with leaders at Cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa’s house, whereas the chief minister was having a meeting with MLAs from Patiala district at his official residence. Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring had indicated earlier that the two leaders would meet.
Sidhu returned to Patiala after meeting dozens of party leaders in the tricity and will travel to Amritsar on Tuesday. Both sides later said there was no meeting planned or requested.
Monday’s developments are a sign that the crisis is still simmering. Amarinder, who had opposed Sidhu’s appointment, is furious with the Amritsar East MLA for making “derogatory” tweets and statements against him.
The chief minister told Punjab affairs incharge Harish Rawat, one of the three persons tasked with resolving the crisis in the Congress, that he would meet Sidhu only after a public apology from him.
Till Monday night, there was no apology or response from the new appointee on this demand.
Amarinder has not put out a tweet or statement to welcome the changes so far whereas the Congress’s other two chief ministers, Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) and Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh), congratulated Sidhu on Twitter.
Earlier, Sidhu arrived in Chandigarh in the morning and met former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, assembly speaker Rana KP Singh, former PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar. The newly-appointed state Congress chief also met Cabinet ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Razia Sultana and Charanjit Singh Channi. Jakhar, Randhawa and some MLAs joined him as he went around meeting other leaders.
