Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday met party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Delhi.
The meeting came amid the infighting in the party’s Punjab unit ahead of the Assembly elections in the state next year. Sidhu is also among several Congress leaders who have revolted against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, PTI reported. The cricketer-turned-politician had resigned from the Punjab Cabinet after he was divested of the local bodies portfolio in 2019.
A three-member committee has been formed by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to resolve the crisis. Reports said the panel had summoned all the Congress MLAs from Punjab besides Sidhu and Singh.
On Monday, Sidhu’s team had announced that he would be meeting party leader Rahul Gandhi and Vadra. But, a day later, Rahul Gandhi denied that he was scheduled to meet Sidhu. “I don’t know what fuss you all are making,” he told reporters.
The panel to bring the party’s disgruntled leaders together is headed by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat and former MP JP Aggarwal are the other members of the committee.
Sidhu has been criticising the chief minister about the 2015 sacrilege case – when Sikh religious text Guru Granth Sahib was desecrated at Bargari (Faridkot) – and the alleged delay by Singh’s government to bring justice. He has also spoken against the liquor, sand and transport mafias operating in Punjab.
Last week, the cricketer-turned-politician also dismissed allegations that he was damaging the image of the Congress in one of the few states where it is in power, NDTV reported. “Is it damaging if you address issues like sacrilege?” he asked. “Every MLA is raising this issue. All 78 MLAs are with me.”
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