Maverick Sidhu.

Sidhu turns hot potato for Congress, but party has no choice

Congress Punjab woes far from over; party worried ahead of polls

Agency Report | New Delhi | 18 October, 2021 | 11:20 PM

After Navjot Singh Sidhu wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and asked for a personal audience to raise issues with the party regarding the fulfilment of poll promises, Congress is working on plan B to check Sidhu and devise a strategy that party should look united ahead of the polls.

The Congress is working on the middle path that both Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state president Navjot Singh Sidhu works in tandem ahead of the polls. The party is wary as it looks divided in the camps, sources say that to carry Sidhu has now become a compulsion as the party wants a Jat Sikh leader at the forefront after Amarinder Singh was removed from the Chief Minister’s post.

The Congress lacks a pan state Jat Sikh leader who has influence in the whole of Punjab.

Last week Navjot Singh Sidhu withdrew his resignation after meeting former party president Rahul Gandhi. After issues were not solved, Sidhu wrote to Sonia Gandhi and made it public.

In the letter he said, it’s the last chance for resurrection and redemption for the party in the state.

“Request you to kindly give me a personal audience to present to you the Punjab Model with a 13-Point Agenda to be part of the Congress Manifesto for the 2022 Assembly elections, which is separate from this by means of its long-term vision to be implemented over a longer period of time, have crafted it through years of consultations with academics, civil society, party workers and feedback from the People of Punjab,” Sidhu wrote.

Sidhu resigned as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president last month. However, his resignation was not accepted by the party high command. (IANS)