Quits as PCC chief; 3 resign in solidarity
After the lull, the storm! Just when the Congress in Punjab was striving to bring about some stability by balancing power, caste and regional equations, “super Chief Minister” Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday triggered political tremors in the State by quitting as the Punjab Congress president. Another Cabinet Minister Razia Sultana stepped down in solidarity.
Within hours of Sidhu’s resignation, PPCC treasurer Gulzar Inder Chahal and general secretary Yoginder Dhingra too resigned from their posts. The two were recently appointed in the State Congress unit.
Sidhu announced his resignation minutes after the allocation of portfolios to the Ministers — and this was apparently the last straw! In a cryptic resignation letter to party supremo Sonia Gandhi that come in less than three months of taking over the party reins, Sidhu wrote, “The collapse of man’s character stems from the compromise corner. I can never compromise on Punjab’s future and the agenda for welfare of Punjab. Therefore, I hereby resign as president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Will continue to serve the Congress.”
The tremors, activated by Sidhu’s surprise resignation announced via Twitter, were felt some 250 kilometres away in New Delhi also with the party high command putting its head together to resolve the new crisis. It has been learned that Congress senior central leaders, including KC Venugopal and State party affairs in-charge Harish Rawat, held an emergency meeting to discuss the developments in the Punjab unit.
It is also believed that party’s national general secretary Priyanka Vadra, who has all along backed Sidhu right up to his elevation to the Congress top post in Punjab, may also talk to the former cricketer.
Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who was addressing the media at his office, was unaware of the development. Declaring that he could not be “upset with me”, Channi said he would “sit and talk” with Sidhu, while adding that he has “complete trust in him”.
Minutes after, he convened an emergency Cabinet meeting, attended by all Ministers, that is where Cabinet Minister Sultana tendered he resignation from the Cabinet. Soon, his husband and Sidhu’s chief strategic adviser tweeted her resignation letter saying, “So proud of my wife Razia Sultana for her principled decision to resign in the best interest of Congress and its leadership, on particular Rahul Gandhi, our benefactor.”
Later, several party leaders, including legislators, reached Sidhu’s Patiala residence in an effort to placate him. Among those who met Sidhu include Cabinet Ministers Dr Raj Kumar Verka, Pargat Singh, Razia Sultana; Punjab Congress working presidents Kuljit Singh Nagra and Sukhwinder Singh Danny; MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria; AAP MLA turned Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira; among others.
Soon after Sidhu’s resignation, former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh tweeted, “I told you so. He is not a stable man and not fit for the border State of Punjab.”
No official reason has been given for Sidhu’s sudden act, but it is believed that a series of events apparently undermining his authority culminated into his decision to step down from the party’s top post.
Available information suggests that Sidhu has been upset with the prominence given to Dera Baba Nanak legislator Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa by appointing him as Deputy Chief Minister and then finally allocating an all-important Home portfolio to him.
Randhawa, who vigorously backed Sidhu in his fight against the former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh which finally concluding with the former’s appointment as Punjab Congress president and latter’s resignation as the State Government’s head, lost the race to the Chief Minister’s post because of Sidhu’s strong opposition.
Sources informed The Pioneer that Sidhu had earlier also made up his mind to resign as PPCC chief when the central leaders, including Rawat, were in Chandigarh to elect the leader of Congress Legislative Party (CLP), following Capt Amarinder’s resignation as the Chief Minister.
Sidhu vehemently opposed Randhawa’s name as Capt Amarinder’s replacement, and even left the meeting in a huff midway. Soon he was on his way to the national capital, reportedly to hand over his resignation to the party high command. In fact, he argued that in case the party wanted to appoint a Jat Sikh as Chief Minister, it should be him. It was only after Charanjit Singh Channi’s name was put forth that Sidhu returned from midway.
Later, Sidhu also opposed appointing Randhawa as Deputy Chief Minister, but to no avail. Then again, he wanted Channi to keep the Home portfolio with him, being the Chief Minister. But, when the list of portfolios was made public on Tuesday morning, Sidhu’s resignation bomb was dropped within minutes.
Sidhu, also a Jat Sikh, is believed to have viewed Randhawa’s elevation as a threat to his Chief Ministerial ambitions after the 2022 Assembly polls.
Another possible reason for Sidhu’s resignation seems to be the selection of Ministers, inducted in Channi’s Cabinet. Sidhu wanted to secure a berth for Kuljit Singh Nagra and Surjit Singh Dhiman, while opposed the names of Aruna Chaudhary and Rana Gurjit Singh.
While Dhiman’s name could not be included, Nagra’s name was dropped at an eleventh hour replacing him with Randeep Singh Nabha. Also, Chaudhary and Rana Gurjit were elevated as Ministers.
The party high command listened to Channi, who shuffled between New Delhi and Chandigarh, to decide on his Cabinet formation. Rana Gurjit managed to make a comeback in the Cabinet with the party high command not paying any heed to the opposition of seven leaders, including six MLAs, from Doaba region who shot off a letter to Sidhu against his elevation pointing out that he had resigned from the Ministry in 2018 due to allegations of graft in a sand mining case.
The appointments of state Director General of Police (DGP) and the Advocate-General (AG), overlooking his recommendations, were also being seen as a contentious issue that led to Sidhu’s decision.
Sidhu was backing Siddhartha Chattopadhyay as the State police chief, and DS Patwalia as AG. But Channi, in a noticeable attempt to send across the message that he was the one taking decision in the Government and not the “Super CM”, went ahead with his own choices.
He was given additional charge of state DGP to Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota as Dinkar Gupta went a month-long leave, while appointing APS Deol as the state’s top law officer.
Deol’s appointment, came just a day before, put the Government in dock as he was, till recently, the counsel for former DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, the police chief during the incidents of sacrilege and police firing on protesters.
There is no denying the fact that Sidhu has all along been eyeing the Chief Minister’s chair. An ambitious leader, he wanted to be in the position who calls the shots - be it the Government and the party. With Channi’s appointment, he acted as “Super CM”, leading his way by holding his hand, putting hands on Chief Minister’s shoulder. But, Channi soon put a full stop.
He started performing-working late at night from the word go! Channi was seen all around, and thanks to his media team. He was seen grooving on Bhangra beats with students; asking police personnel not to come in his way of meeting the people reiterating that nothing will happen to him; stopping his cavalcade to accept saropas by a group of villages, sharing a tea in a steel bowl with morning walkers, blessing a newly-wed couple, and what not! Channi emerged as people’s Chief Minister - something in which his predecessor failed. Capt Amarinder was accused of being inaccessible, even to his own party men and MLAs.
And with party high command listening more to Channi, Sidhu started feeling somewhat feeble.
