Sidhu named Punjab Congress chief with 4 working presidents
Sonia announces Sidhu’s elevation; five appointments will pave the way for revamp of party’s organizational set-up in poll-bound state
CHANDIGARH: Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday appointed Navjot Singh Sidhu, 57, as the new president of the Punjab Congress, along with four working presidents, after weeks of speculations and wrangling in the state unit.
Sidhu has been elevated to the top party position in the state with immediate effect despite strong opposition from chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The four working presidents who have been appointed to assist Sidhu in the run-up to next year’s state assembly elections are Sangat Singh Gilzian, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Pawan Goel and Kuljit Singh Nagra.
The five appointments will pave the way for the revamp of the organizational set-up that was disbanded by the Congress president in January 2020. “Before the formal announcement was made, the Amritsar East MLA had already started reaching out to cabinet ministers, legislators and other senior party leaders and is expected to hit the ground running.
However, there is a feeling in the party that the announcement may worsen the rift as Capt Amarinder continues to be upset with Sidhu.
hough he told AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat, who was in Chandigarh to inform him about the changes, that any decision of the Congress president would be acceptable to him, Capt refused to meet Sidhu till he tenders a public apology for making derogatory remaks against him.
A former cricketer-turnedpolitician, Sidhu, a four-time MP, joined the Congress from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before the 2017 state assembly polls.
Though he was inducted into the state cabinet as the local government minister, tourism and cultural affairs minister, his relations with Amarinder were uneasy from the start.
Sidhu quit the cabinet after his portfolio was changed by Amarinder in 2019 and went into a sulk before turning into a trenchant critic of the chief minister.
However, he continued to have access to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra which, according to political observers, has worked for him.
Capt opposed his elevation, citing his lack of seniority in the Congress and community equations as both are Jat Sikhs and belong to Patiala. He was advocating a Hindu face for the post. The Congress has tried to ensure caste and religious balance by appointing four working presidents.
The appointments also bear Rahul’s stamp as both Nagra and Danny were part of his team of young leaders in the state.
Gilzian, a three-time MLA from Urmar, belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and remained sore over the neglect of legislators from the community.
Danny, a first-time MLA from Jandiala, is a young Dalit leader with an MBA from London. His father Sardul Singh was a minister in Amarinder’s first tenure. Fatehgarh Sahib MLA Nagra is a Jat Sikh. He has been relieved from his present responsibility as AICC in-charge of Sikkim, Nagaland and Tripura.
The fourth working president, Pawan Goel, is from the Hindu community. A lowkey leader, Goel, who hails from Jaitu, come from the family of traditional Congressmen.
He is presently chairman of the Faridkot District Planning Board.
CHANDIGARH: The Congress high command named former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu as the new president of Punjab Congress along with four working presidents on a day full of hectic political activity and uncertainty as the wait for the formal announcement was getting longer.
Both warring factions in the state Congress held meetings of their supporters to fortify their positions on the revamp of the organisational set-up even as the present incumbent Sunil Jakhar called a meeting of party legislators and district unit chiefs on Monday for passing a resolution and facilitate a solution. The meeting has been called off following the announcement.
The day began with Sidhu, who was tipped to take over as the Punjab Congress chief and met nearly 30 party leaders, including Jakhar, ministers and MLAS on Saturday, going from district to district and reaching out to MLAS in Patiala, Khanna and Jalandhar to demonstrate the support he is getting.
Party MPS go in a huddle
In Delhi, nine of the 11 Congress MPS from Punjab held a meeting and decided to throw their weight behind Amarinder. They also sought time from Congress president Sonia Gandhi for a meeting to push their case, said people aware of developments.
The Congress MPS’ meeting, seen as a show of strength, was held at the residence of Partap Singh Bajwa who has buried his differences with the chief minister
and had a dinner meeting with him at his farmhouse in Mohali on Saturday. Barring Ambika Soni and Amar Singh, all other party MPS, from the state, including Capt’s MP wife Preneet Kaur, were present.
“Discussion with @Incindia Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha MPS from Punjab to devise a strategy on farmers’ issues in upcoming monsoon sesson of Parliament,” Bajwa tweeted with photos.
Rajya Sabha MP Shamsher Singh Dullo after the meeting said, “We have urged the Congress president for time to discuss on Punjab Congress affairs and other issues. I spoke to her and have sent a letter to her, saying that if the party wants to retain power, a Dalit should head the state unit,” he said.
10 MLAS’ pro-capt joint statement
Besides the party MPS, 10 MLAS, including three AAP legislators who recently joined the party, also issued a joint statement in
CM’S support, urging the Congress leadership not to let him down as “because of his unrelenting efforts, the party stands well entrenched in Punjab”. “Sidhu was a celebrity and was no doubt an asset to the party, but condemning and critcising his own party and government in public has only created a rift in the cadres and weakened it,” they said in a statement released by Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who is among the three new entrants.
Harminder Singh Gill, Kuldeep Vaid, Fatehjang Bajwa, Gurpreet Singh GP, Balwinder Laddi, Santokh Bhalaipur, Joginder Pal, Jagdev Kamalu and Pirmal Singh are among the MLAS who issued the statement. They also supported Singh’s decision not to meet Sidhu unitl he publicly tenders an apology for his “derogatory” tweets against him.
Amarinder and Sidhu have been at loggerheads and the latter repeatedly targeted the CM.
While Sidhu is still to respond
to Capt’s apology demand, dissenting cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa spoke out in his favour, saying if Amarinder can forget (Partap Singh) Bajwa’s letters against him, then he should also forget.
Jakhar’s bid to break the impasse
As Sunday’s developments signalled the hardening of positions by both sides, Jakhar called all 80 party MLAS and district presidents for the meeting in Chandigarh to pass a resolution that whatever decision is taken by the Congress high command would be acceptable to all.
Later, former Union minister Ashwani Kumar said the Congress high command’s decision to appoint Sidhu as the Punjab party chief should now be gracefully accepted by all. “This is a time to be united. There are no victors or losers. Reconciliation is the way forward,” he said, adding that magnanimity is expected on both sides.