A Congress panel met ministers and MLAs in New Delhi tofind out a common ground to end factionalism in Punjab with the state going tothe polls next year. The panel will meet Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh also.
In the Monday meet Congress state president Sunil Jakharmet the committee constituted by party president Sonia Gandhi comprising ofMallikarjun Kharge, JP Aggarwal, and General Secretary In charge of the stateHarish Rawat.
Apart from Sunil Jakhar, ministers in Punjabgovernment, Sunder Sham Arora, Charanjit Channi, Aruna Chowdhry, Brahm Mohindra,OP Soni, Manpreet Badal, Tript Bajwa, Rana Sodhi and Sukhjinder Randhawa alsomet the committee.
The committee will continue its consultations tillWednesday. Navjot Singh Sidhu is likely to meet the members on Tuesday. Sourcesindicated that there is no talk of replacing the Chief Minister, onlyrehabilitation of the important leaders.
Sidhu wants his rehabilitation either in the governmentor the party. He has been attacking the Chief Minister, saying that he iswaiting as the high command has intervened. Sidhu dared the chief minister toprove his allegations of his joining another party.
However, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) will nottake the risk of replacing the Chief Minister as there is nobody of his statureto face the Akali Dal especially the Badal family. The Congress will have todevise a middle path as 20 MLAs are reported to be unhappy with the AmarinderSingh's style of functioning.
Sources said the committee will perform a balancing actbetween the two factions. Sidhu and one non-Sikh leader may be appointed asDeputy Chief Ministers. The committee is expected to submit its report thisweek itself.
Ram Awla, Gurkirat Singh, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Arun Dogra,Raj Kumar Chabbewal, Rana KP, and Rakesh Pandey also met the panel.
Most of the MLAs complained about arbitrary actions bythe CM but the key concern was the government's inability to bring to book theculprits in the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing duringpeaceful protests in 2015, which was in the party election manifesto.