Amarinder writes to Sonia, expresses reservation over Sidhu

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is learnt to have written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday expressing reservation over Navjot Singh Sidhu’s possible appointment as the state party chief.

In another development, AICC general secretary and in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat is likely to arrive in Chandigarh to meet Amarinder Singh on Saturday even as suspense over the much-awaited announcement from the Congress high command on the resolution of the infighting in the party’s state unit continues.

Sidhu, a former BJP MP, had joined the Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly polls.

There are reports that he is likely to be made Punjab Congress chief.

However, Amarinder Singh has expressed his displeasure over Sidhu being given a key post, said the sources.

There is also talk of appointing two working presidents — a Dalit and a Hindu face to balance the caste equations.

The names of minister Vijay Inder Singla and MP Santokh Chaudhary were doing the rounds for the post of working presidents.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is a Jat Sikh.

Currently, Sunil Jakhar is the PPCC president.

Rawat is expected to meet the chief minister at his farmhouse at Siswan in Mohali on Saturday afternoon, the sources further said without divulging much about the proposed meeting.

Amid continued internal feud in the state unit of the Congress, Sidhu on Friday met party president Gandhi in Delhi.

Congress leader and chairman of Punjab Large Industrial Development Board Pawan Dewan urged the party to have a representation of the Hindu community on key posts in the state unit.

“Punjab Congress president – Jat Sikh (if Sidhu is made state Congress chief). CM-Jat Sikh. Punjab Youth Congress President- Jat Sikh Campaign Committee Chairman- Jat Sikh, Hindu kaha hai (where is the representation of the Hindu community)?” he tweeted.

Sidhu has been at loggerheads with Amarinder Singh and he had attacked the chief minister over the alleged delay in justice in the 2015 sacrilege and subsequent police firing incidents.

The Punjab CM on Friday also slammed the Aam Aadmi Party over its criticism of his government’s decision on debt waiver for farm labourers and landless farmers, saying it exposed the opposition party’s “anti-farmer stance”.

AAP had termed the Punjab government’s recent decision of waiving Rs 590 crore worth loans under a farm debt waiver scheme for labourers and the landless farmers as a ploy to fool people ahead of the Assembly polls next year.

“The AAP criticism of my government’s decision on debt waiver exposes Arvind Kejriwal’s party’s anti-farmer stance,” the CM said in a statement.

At the same time, Amarinder Singh said their reaction is on expected lines “considering that the party (AAP) had never shown any interest in doing anything for the farming community”.

“The Kejriwal government in Delhi was among the first to notify one of the controversial and draconian farm laws of the central government. The fact is that AAP does not care for the welfare of the agricultural community and is opposed to any decision that is in favour of the farmers,” he alleged.

He reminded AAP that the debt waiver for farm labourers and landless farmers was not an announcement made on the eve of the 2022 Assembly polls but a promise contained in the Punjab Congress manifesto.