Will implement party agenda, resolve all issues, says Channi

CM’S STATEMENT COMES A DAY AFTER HIS MEETING WITH STATE CONGRESS CHIEF NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU ON SUNDAY

CHANDIGARH: Amid a fresh push by Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu for implementation of pending agenda ahead of the assembly elections, chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday said that all matters will be resolved and the agenda of the party implemented.

The chief minister’s statement came a day after Sidhu again flagged 13 issues, including justice in sacrilege cases, exemplary punishment for big fish behind drug trafficking, cancellation of faulty power purchase pacts, cut in power rates and fixing responsibility for scholarship scam, in a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“Be it 13 points, 18 points, 21 points or even 24 points, whatever the agenda is, we are implementing it. Not a single point will be left out,” Channi told reporters at a press conference after a state cabinet meeting in which water bill arrears of consumers in urban and rural areas were waived. The chief minister said it was his (Sidhu’s) right to raise issues as the state chief. “The party is supreme and the government will implement its ideology. Ghar ghar wich challi gal, sarkar kareigi masle hal (There is talking in every household that government will take care of all issues),” he said in response to Sidhu’s letter.

The chief minister also played down their differences, stating that in case it occurs that they (he and Sidhu) had issues, he would make the PPCC chief sit beside him at his next press conference. Channi and Sidhu, who have not been on the same on senior appointments, some cabinet inductions and portfolio allocation, had a late-night meeting on Sunday to improve coordination between the party and the state government with the state polls less than four months away.

Cabinet minister Pargat Singh, considered close to Sidhu, and central leaders Harish Chaudhary and Krishna Allavaru were also present in the meeting held barely hours after the PPCC chief posted his letter to the Congress president on Twitter. The Punjab Congress president, who has been steadfast on his demand for implementation of pending promises, took up the matter at the meeting, citing their significance for the party in the state. “We are having regular internal meetings with different leaders of the party every day. There will be another round of meetings again today,” Chaudhary said, refusing to go into details.

While Sidhu did not respond to calls, his wife and former chief parliamentary secretary Navjot Kaur said they (PPCC chief and CM) held a long meeting to discuss to find a way for cancellation of PPAS. “We do not want a situation where we decide to cancel PPAS and run into the legal tangles. That’s why they sat till 3am,” she told journalists in Amritsar. Sidhu, Chaudhary and some other party leaders had another round of talks on Monday evening to discuss the appointments in the state and district units and hiring of a private firm for poll campaign management and publicity on social media. Half-a-dozen private companies are said to be vying for the party’s poll campaign management work in the state.