4 Punjab ministers revolt against CM

MLAs to meet Sonia, crisis worsens

Chandigarh, Aug. 24: Four Cabinet ministers and several Congress legislators on Tuesday raised a banner of revolt against Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, saying they do not have “faith” in him as he has not fulfilled the promises made before the 2017 Assembly polls. The four ministers — Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh

Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi — and around two dozen legislators met here at the residence of Mr Bajwa on Tuesday.

Mr Bajwa said they would seek time to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and apprise her of the political situation in the state. He said “drastic” steps must be taken and if there is a need to change the chief

minister, it should be done.

The development is expected to deepen the crisis in the Punjab Congress, just a few months ahead of the Assembly elections.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Mr Channi said several party legislators and ministers on Tuesday assembled here and expressed concern over the unfulfilled promises, including delay in justice in case of desecration of a religious text in 2015, arrest of the big fish involved in drug rackets and scrapping power purchase agreements.

He said Mr Bajwa, Mr Sarkaria, Mr Randhawa and Punjab Congress general secretary Pargat Singh will meet the party high command in New Delhi soon. These five are known detractors of Capt. Amarinder Singh.

The meeting comes amid severe criticism of two advisers of Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu for making controversial remarks on sensitive issues like Kashmir and Pakistan.

However, Mr Sidhu was not present in the meeting.

The Congress has 80 legislators in the 117-member Asembly. “A lot of promises have been fulfilled but those promises (the implementation of) which lead to friction with the opposition remain unfulfilled,” Mr Channi said.

“We no longer have faith that these issues will be resolved. Therefore, we are seeking time from the party high command for a meeting, he said.

He said nothing happened after the questioning of former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal by the SIT in the Kotkapura police firing incident.