The last lap in the race for political supremacy in Punjab is turning to be decisive with not just the All India Congress Committee’s three-member dispute resolution panel meeting the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, but also party’s senior leader Rahul Gandhi holding hectic parleys with the state party leaders, including the legislators, parliamentarians, Ministers — mostly the Chief Minister’s critics.
The spurt in activity is being seen as an indicator of wrapping up of things by the panel at one level and the party high command at another, but not necessarily the end of hostilities.
With no resolution in sight of the internal crisis in the Punjab party unit, the Congress national vice-president Rahul Gandhi has decided to take charge. Since Tuesday, he has been holding marathon “one-on-one” meetings with the party leaders from Punjab to take the first hand feedback.
Till now, he has met about a dozen party leaders, and is scheduled to meet Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar on Wednesday.
Most of the leaders that Rahul Gandhi has met were, at one point of time, Capt Amarinder’s staunch supporters, and loyalists, but have been indulging in criticizing him openly.
A day before, Rahul Gandhi had met some Punjab leaders including Amritsar MP Gurjit Singh Aujla and Fatehgarh Sahib MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra. Notably, Nagra has recently opposed the Cabinet’s decision to give government jobs “on compassionate grounds” to the sons of two Congress MLAs.
As per available information, four Cabinet Ministers — Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria — have met the senior leader. Rahul also met Olympian and party MLA Pargat Singh — who addressed a media conference questioning Cabinet’s move of government jobs to MLAs’ sons by dubbing it as nothing less than “horse trading”.
Besides, meetings were also held with Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Inderbir Singh Bolaria, Sangat Singh Gilzian — all who had once been appointed as advisers to the Chief Minister. Other than that, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and former MLA Ashwani Sekhri — who has also questioned his own party’s government and criticized the Chief Minister’s functioning — were also summoned by Rahul Gandhi for the meeting.
Sources informed The Pioneer that the one on one meetings by Rahul Gandhi with the party leaders, especially those who have criticized the Chief Minister and the Government, are the part of conclusion of deliberations before the high command arrives at the final decision.
It has been learnt that the high command would arrive at the final resolution of the prevailing situation by the end of this month. Big changes in the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) are in the offing in terms of its president and formation of a new organizational structure. A Cabinet rejig is also likely with induction of some new faces.
However, the leaders, who met the senior party leader, maintained that the meetings were aimed at 2022 state assembly polls.
“There’s a lot of political changes undergoing in Punjab…SAD has forged an alliance with BSP…someone is joining this party or that. The party had its government since four and a half years now, so what good works it has done and what needs to be done…what new changes will be there in the Cabinet, what’ll be the new committee,” said Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu after the meeting.
Downplaying the significance of the meeting, Bittu said that the decision regarding Punjab “is being taken at the highest level, and Rahul Gandhi has taken upon himself to take the decision which shows how seriously the party is taking this border
state”.
Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh insisted that there are some “issues” that needs to be resolved before the party goes for the polls, while also clarifying that the party is “one group” and not divided.
“I repeated the issues that I raised earlier. These issues need to be resolved. If they’re addressed by Capt Amarinder, I’ve no problem,” he said after meeting Rahul Gandhi.
He said that there was “no problem. There are some issues and I talked about solutions for the same…There is no group…This is just one group…The talks that the party is divided and is all media creation”.
Sekhri, the only leader who is not an elected representative or holding any post, said that the party high command is very concerned about the Punjab party unit as several leaders raised the issue with many speaking against Capt Amarinder while some in his favour. “By holding such meetings, the high command is assessing how this situation can be resolved,” he said.
In a related development, the three-member panel, led by Mallikarjun Kharge, on Tuesday asked the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to expedite the process of fulfilling all pre-poll promises, and keeping the MLAs satisfied ahead the 2022 polls, the party’s veteran leader from Punjab has categorically told the committee that Navjot Singh Sidhu’s recent remarks would dent the party cadre’s morale and such statements were “unacceptable”.
The Chief Minister has been asked to fulfill the promises, especially on drugs, sacrilege.
Besides, the Chief Minister also met senior party leaders Ambika Soni and Salman Khurshid who have been reportedly tasked by the high command to also engage in talks with the state leaders in Punjab to resolve the crisis.
