Have no faith in CM: Punjab ministers

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 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 Bajwa on Tuesday. Bajwa said they would seek time to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and apprise her of the political situation in the state.

He said “drastic” steps need to be taken and if there is a need to change the chief minister, then 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, 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.

Chhattisgarh infighting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and state Health Minister T S Singh Deo in an effort to resolve the power tussle between the two senior leaders in the state.

Sources said the two Chhattisgarh leaders had separate meetings with the former Congress president. The meetings lasted almost three hours.