Rahul, Priyanka back in Delhi, step up talks with Congress leaders

FORMER PPCC PRESIDENT SUNIL JAKHAR ALSO ACCOMPANIED THEM FROM CHANDIGARH

CHANDIGARH: The process of expansion of the council of ministers of chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi is likely to get accelerated with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra returning to Delhi on Wednesday.

Rahul and Priyanka, who were holidaying in Shimla, went back to Delhi via Chandigarh. They travelled from Shimla to Chandigarh by road and then took a flight to Delhi. Former Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar also accompanied them from Chandigarh. Though there is speculation that Rahul is consulting the former PPCC chief on cabinet formation, Jakhar said that it was a chance meeting and nothing should be read into this. “I was travelling to Delhi and they (Gandhi siblings) were also on the same flight,” he said.

Jakhar, a Hindu face, was a frontrunner for the chief minister’s post with Rahul’s backing after Capt Amarinder Singh resigned on September 18. However, some party leaders, including Ambika Soni and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, favoured a

Sikh CM and later Channi’s name was finalised from among other aspirants.

Channi, his two deputies Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and OP Soni and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu had met central leaders of the party in Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the probables for the state cabinet. The names doing the rounds for inclusion include Pargat Singh, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, and Raj Kumar Verka.

There is speculation that some former ministers, including Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, Balbir Singh Sidhu and Sunder Sham Arora may not find place in the new council of ministers. With Rahul back in Delhi, another round of deliberations is expected on Thursday to decide the names and portfolios.