Sidhu, Channi meet; Cong to set up panel to resolve crisis
CHANDIGARH: Two days after he stepped down as the president of the Congress’s Punjab unit, Navjot Singh Sidhu met chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi in Chandigarh on Thursday, following which they agreed to constitute a coordination panel that will be consulted before any major decision, people familiar with the matter said. Sidhu is likely to retain his post as the Punjab unit chief of the party, a leader present at the meeting said on the condition of anonymity.
According to people familiar with the matter, the panel is likely to be headed by a central leader and may comprise the CM, Sidhu and a third leader. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is expected to make an announcement in this regard within 24 hours, an official said on condition of anonymity.
The meeting was conducted as the cricketer-turned-politician’s abrupt resignation on September 28, barely 72 days after he was appointed the state unit chief, pushed the Congress into a fresh crisis in poll-bound Punjab before it could recover from months of turmoil due to a bitter tussle between Sidhu and former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
Channi, who is battling his first major political crisis just 11 days after taking over as the CM, offered to sit down on Wednesday and iron out differences. But Sidhu had struck a defiant note in his video message on Wednesday, questioning the selection of the advocate general, directorgeneral of police and “tainted leaders” in the cabinet.
According to people familiar with the development, during the two-hour meeting held at the Punjab Bhawan on Thursday, Sidhu demanded the removal of DGP Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota and advocate general of Punjab APS Deol.
The two names are linked to the 2015 desecration of a religious text in Punjab’s Faridkot district, whose investigation was handed over by the then Parkash Singh Badal-led government to an SIT led by Sahota, while Deol was a counsel for former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and represented him in cases related to police firing on Sikhs protesting against the sacrilege cases.
“As for the two appointments, it has been decided that a panel with IPS officers will be sent to UPSC as per the procedure laid down by the Supreme Court. Till then, Sahota will continue and the new DGP will be named from among the three names received the commission. The issue of AG’S appointment will be decided after a discussion in the coordination panel,” one of the persons quoted above said.
Besides Channi and Sidhu, the meeting was attended by Cabinet ministers Pargat Singh and Raj Kumar Verka, Punjab Congress working presidents Kuljit Singh Nagra and Pawan Goel, central leader Harish Chaudhary and Amritsar South MLA Inderbir Bolaria.
“Sidhu saab will carry on as the PPCC president. All issues raised by him and pending promises that are to be implemented before the elections were discussed in detail and both sides presented their views,” said a leader present at the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
A senior party leader, however, does not see much advantage in setting up the panel so close to assembly elections. “It will not serve any purpose other than putting balm on someone’s ego and making the decisionmaking process more cumbersome,” the leader said.
Earlier in the day, before his meeting with Channi, Sidhu attacked Sahota. “DGP IPS Sahota was head of SIT investigating Beadbi case under Badal govt, he wrongfully indicted two Sikh youth for sacrilege & gave a clean chit to Badals...”