PUNJAB CM MEETS LEADERS AMID TUSSLE IN STATE
CM spends three hours hearing their grievances related to development works in urban areas across the state
CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh met around 35 leaders from urban areas of the state on Thursday amid a tussle for control of the party, a day after his rival and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu met senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Singh’s meeting was aimed at calming nerves in the factionridden party and discussions focused on giving more representation to the Hindu community, party officials said.
CHANDIGARH: A day after disgruntled former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu called on the Gandhis in Delhi, chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh met more than 35 party leaders, mostly Hindus, from urban areas to calm frayed nerves in the party’s state unit.
The chief minister met these leaders, including some ex-mlas and present and former-chairpersons of boards and other government bodies, over lunch at his official residence, spending close to three hours hearing their grievances and suggestions relating to development works in urban areas across the state.
The meeting was held amid voices of discontent from leaders from the community that they had been given the cold shoulder in the first four-and-ahalf years of the present government.
Several of them raised the issue and sought better representation in the Punjab Congress and in the upcoming elections, two people present at the meeting said.
These voices assume significance in the backdrop of the revamp of the state unit due anytime now.
While Sidhu is keen on becoming the state Congress president ahead of next year’s state assembly polls, Amarinder has publicly opposed this more than once and is in favour of a Hindu or Dalit face as the state unit chief.
However, a senior minister said the ongoing rift and the change of state president were not discussed explicitly at the meeting, but several of them raised the issue of delay in development works in their areas and complained of the bureaucracy ignoring the party leaders on genuine matters of public interest and welfare. The chief minister assured them quick action on these matters.
Cabinet ministers Brahm Mohindra, OP Soni, Vijay Inder Singla, Manpreet Singh Badal, Sunder Sham Arora and Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Amritsar West MLA Raj Kumar Verka and former Rajya Sabha member Ashwani Kumar were among those who also attended the meeting. Lok Sabha MPS Manish Tewari, Gurjeet Singh Singh Aujla, and Jasbir Singh Dimpa also joined in later. “We had gone to the chief minister’s residence to meet him separately,” one of them said.
However, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar was conspicuous by his absence. The state chief was close to the chief minister until recently, but his sharp criticism of the cabinet’s decision — a move that had the chief minister’s blessing — to give government jobs to the sons of Congress MLAS Fatehjung Singh Bajwa and Rakesh Pandey on “compassionate grounds” appears to have driven a wedge between the two.
Former Batala MLA Ashwani Sekhri, who has been critical of the CM, also attended the meeting. He refused to talk about the meeting and left for Delhi. He was scheduled to join the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) three days ago but opted out at the last minute after the CM and other party leaders talked to him.
The meeting touted as luncheon diplomacy by some is also seen as the chief minister’s attempt to dispel the impression of lack of accessibility about which a number of party MLAS and other leaders had complained to the central leadership last month.
“This is not a one-off meeting. The chief minister will hold more such interactions with party leaders in the next few days,” one of the MPS said.
“Had a fruitful discussion with senior Congress colleagues from urban areas of Punjab. We have taken their feedback to strengthen the party at the grassroot level,” Amarinder tweeted after the meeting.
PARTY LEADERS COMPLAIN OF BUREAUCRACY IGNORING THEM ON GENUINE MATTERS OF PUBLIC INTEREST AND WELFARE