NEW DELHI: Disgruntled Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday met with party leader Rahul Gandhi in the national capital on Wednesday, in the backdrop of tumult in the Punjab unit of the party, ahead of next year’s state Assembly elections.
According to the sources, the meeting between Sidhu and Rahul which lasted for over 45 minutes can be seen as a “meeting of reconciliation” in the Punjab Congress.
Earlier in the day, Sidhu met the party’s General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at her residence here.
After meeting with the cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu, Priyanka went to Rahul Gandhi’s residence and had a 40-45-minutes-long meeting with him and the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi.
Today’s meeting comes even as there are murmurs of rebellion in its state unit.
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi formed a three-member committee to resolve the factionalism in the state unit and the AICC panel had in its June 10 report given its suggestions after meeting with Sidhu as well as Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh with whom the cricketer politician had been at loggerheads.
It is to be noted that Rahul Gandhi has held meetings with Punjab Congress MLAs, MPs, and other important leaders from the state, including PCC Chief Sunil Jakhar. On Friday, the leaders who reached Rahul Gandhi’s residence to attend a meeting included Vijendra Singla, Rana Gurjit Singh, RS MP Shamsher Singh Dhillon, and MLA Lakhvir Singh.
Dhillon while speaking to media persons had said that the meeting was held to resolve infighting in the Punjab Congress and added that decisions were made to strengthen the party in the upcoming elections in the state.
Gandhi on Wednesday met many senior Punjab leaders including Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Harish Rawat in Delhi amid escalating infighting in the party’s state unit.
Punjab Assembly polls, scheduled for next year, are being considered crucial for Congress as it is one of the few states where the party is still in power.
In 2017 Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years. Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in the 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured 3 seats. (ANI)
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