The first round of the bout with his bête noire Partap Singh Bajwa, the Punjab Congress chief, in the political ring was apparently won by former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday.
The Day 1 of crisis management game saw the meeting of six MlAs with party’s national vice-president Rahul Gandhi, five of whom were Capt Amarinder’s ardent loyalists, and reportedly sang in his praise.
Just about 15 minutes were required to be given to each MlA, but Rahul Gandhi spent, on an average, half-an-hour with each of them.
To resolve the long-pending leadership issue in the party unit in Punjab, the Gandhi scion has called all the party legislators from the State for the final discussions on the issue. He met the first batch of MlAs on Thursday including Congress legislature Party (ClP) leader Sunil Jakhar, known to be a strong Capt loyalist.
Besides Jakhar, other MlAs who met Rahul Gandhi include senior leader lal Singh, Rana Gurjit Singh, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Ramanjit Sikki.
The MlAs were visibly satisfied with the meeting in which Rahul Gandhi gave all of them a patient hearing. “The meeting was satisfactory…we discussed all the issues pertaining to the state including that of leadership,” one of the MlA told The Pioneer, requesting anonymity.
The legislator said that all the MlAs have made clear their opinion to hand over the party reigns to Patiala Royal to see the Congress emerging victorious in 2017 polls.
Another MlA, on the basis of anonymity, maintained that the party leadership would soon put an end to this leadership issue and announce the new state party chief by October 15, possibly.
“They want to resolve the leadership issue as it is harming the party’s prospects,” he added.
It was argued that while Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is taking advantage of the anti-incumbency and anti-government wave across the different sections of the society, the Congress is busy in resolving leadership tussle.
They said that Rahul Gandhi also took updates on political front in the state and the organisational issues.
Rahul Gandhi’s talks with the party MlAs are aimed at resolving the crisis by holding a final round of discussion with them on the issue of state leadership before taking a decision.
It has been learnt that the party high command is waiting for Capt Amarinder to return from his personal visit abroad before making a formal announcement. Captain is expected to return on October 9.
The second and last batch of MlAs has been invited for a meeting on October 12 which includes former Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi and Charanjit Singh Channi.