The political storm generated by the howling tempest let loose by the “foe inside”, Navjot Singh Sidhu, and the recent setback following verdict in Kotkapura firing incident, has produced rough undercurrents that are threatening to hit the ruling Congress party hard.
As many as three Cabinet Ministers and two MPs, largely critical of the government’s functioning, on Monday held a meeting at a residence of Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa to discuss, among other things, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s existing support base, besides deciding to take up the issue with the high command.
Unhappy with the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s order judgment in the 2015 Kotkapura firing case, Randhawa has switched into a rebel mode especially after the fiery Cabinet meeting that saw tabling of resignations by him and also the state Congress president Sunil Jakhar.
An “unplanned” meeting was held at Randhawa’s residence on Monday which was attended by two party MPs — Partap Singh Bajwa (Rajya Sabha), and Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, besides two more Cabinet Ministers — Charanjit Singh Channi and Gurpreet Singh Kangar.
Bittu, who has in the recent past backed Capt Amarinder and lashed out at Sidhu for his “criticism”, said that the meeting as not scheduled rather everyone got together accidentally. “I had gone to meet Randhawa saab as it was a long time since we met. Then we got Bajwa saab’s phone, and he also come over to meet us. Then Channi and Kangar too come over as they live nearby. It was totally unplanned,” he added.
He admitted that discussions on the prevailing political situation, including sacrilege issues, general perception of Capt Amarinder being hands in glove with the Badals, unfulfilled promises, among others were discussed in detail.
The sources told The Pioneer that the Congress leaders not only gauged the support currently enjoyed by the Chief Minister among the party MLAs, but also discussed taking up the matter of party’s unfulfilled promises with the party high command.
“The party high command is apprised of the entire situation, related to sacrilege and others, we just wanted to bring forth the ground realities of the State.
It has also been learnt that Chief Minister’s advisor Bharat Inder Singh Chahal also met Randhawa on Monday, reportedly to pacify him. Randhawa, who has once known as Capt Amarinder’s staunch loyalist, is currently unhappy with the Chief Minister, especially for not acting against the Badals in sacrilege cases, against Majithia in drugs case, among others.
It is pertinent to mention here that beside Randhawa and Jakhar, Channi and Kangar too openly spoke against the Government during the Cabinet meeting which saw a blistering war of words among the party leaders. In fact, Channi and Randhawa have since then boycotting the Cabinet meetings.
The meeting came within a week after Sidhu, Randhawa, Channi and five MLAs held secret a meeting to discuss ways to pile pressure on the Chief Minister. Besides the sacrilege case, they are demanding that the Government should take strong actions against the transport, drugs, and mining mafia in the State, which was among the poll promises by Congress in 2017.
THREE CABINET MINISTERS SUPPORTS CAPT, SEEK ACTION AGAINST SIDHU
The meeting came the day other three Cabinet Ministers came out in support of the CHief Minister Capt Amarinder while Monday urging the Congress high command to take strict disciplinary action against Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Taking strong exception to the no-holds-barred attack unleashed by the dissident MLA against the Chief Minister terming his “unmitigated onslaught” as “an act of gross indiscipline and an attempt to undermine the Congress Government” in the State, the three Cabinet Ministers said that the MLA’s personal attack on Capt Amarinder was an anti-party act, which called for immediate disciplinary action.
The Cabinet ministers, including Brahm Mohindra, Sunder Sham Arora and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, came out in strong criticism of Sidhu’s actions and open criticism of the Congress Chief Minister while being an elected MLA from the same party.
“Sidhu’s recent spate of comments against the Chief Minister could no longer be dismissed as the rantings of a disgruntled member of a democratic political party,” said the ministers, adding that the open rebellion was damaging the interests of the Congress at a time when Assembly elections in the state were less than a year away.
Failure to take action against Sidhu now could trigger unrest in the party’s state unit, which would be fatal for the party, which had suffered major electoral blows in the recently concluded Assembly polls in five states, the ministers warned.
The ministers said it was more than evident now that Sidhu’s intentions were nefarious and motivated by his vested personal and political interests. It was clear that Sidhu, through his blatant accusations and allegations, was trying to fan dissent in the Punjab Congress against Capt Amarinder, who had successfully steered the party to an unprecedented win in 2017 and in every major election in the state thereafter, they added.
Dubbing Sidhu’s aggressive posturing on the social media as an attempt by the disgruntled MLA to pressurize the high command into succumbing to his unreasonable demands, the Ministers said that unless urgent steps were taken by the party to check his unbridled tirade, it would encourage other ambitious and rebellious members to raise their voice openly against the Congress leadership while continuing to enjoy its patronage.
Pointing out that the Chief Minister had made several overtures in recent past to resolve any perceived differences on Sidhu’s part, the Ministers said that it was clear that the latter did not want to be placated but only wanted to score political brownie points to further his personal ambitions.
They appealed to the party’s central leadership to nip this insurgence in the bud so that the Congress does not lose out on the electoral advantage it has in Punjab and ends up losing a winning battle.
SIDHU TWEETS AGAIN
Once again taking on the Chief Minister, Sidhu again took to the social media asking the CHief Minister why he was indulging in delaying tactics in sacrilege case. On Monday, he tweeted, “Nefarious intentions are evident, No High Court stopped you in 4-1/2 yrs ! When DGP/CPS appointments are set aside, orders are challenged in Higher Courts in a matter of hours. Now, first you attack the High Court, than from the backdoor accept the same orders to deflect people’s attention.”