A day after meeting Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh listing out “five priority areas” that need immediate action, the newly-appointed Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday reached the national Capital to make a courtesy call on the party high command after his elevation.
Available information suggests that Sidhu, along with his four working presidents — Kuljit Singh Nagra, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Pawan Goel, and Sukhwinder Singh Danny, will be meeting the Gandhis, and a slew of senior Congress leaders on Thursday during their Delhi visit.
This would be Sidhu’s first meeting with the party high command after his appointment as the PPCC chief, notwithstanding strong opposition by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and several other senior party leaders.
On reaching Delhi, Sidhu first met the senior party leader Ambika Soni, along with his four working presidents, at her residence. The meeting, that lasted for about 15 minutes, was primarily the courtesy call as it is believed that Soni played a significant role in the decision regarding PPCC chief.
The new PPCC team, led by Sidhu, is expected to meet the party’s interim president Soni Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi, and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, besides other senior leaders including Mallikarjjun Kharge, to express gratitude for his appointment. At the same time, Sidhu and his team would also ensure the party high command to live up to its expectations of steering the Congress party towards the victory in 2022 polls.
It is believed that Sidhu may also discuss his strategy with the high command to implement its 18-point agenda, besides talking about the workers’ feedback. With 2022 elections being the major challenge and also the prime focus area for Sidhu, party’s coordination with the State Government would be a foremost task for the new PPCC team.
During the meetings, Sidhu may also share an outline of his plans to strengthen the party, down to the grassroots level, besides discussing the restructuring and building up the new organisational structure which has been lying almost defunct since past more than a year now.
Notably, Sidhu and the four working presidents had met the Chief Minister pointing at the pre-poll promises not fulfilled by his own party’s Government during the past four-and-a-half years by listing out the actions required to be undertaken. In the first meeting with the Chief Minister soon after taking over, the new PPCC team reminded the State Government of the promises made ahead the 2017 state assembly elections, while pointing out that the “State needs stern, decisive, inclusive, and compassionate leadership more than before”.
Outlining the “five priority areas”, Sidhu insisted that the State Government must immediately act upon them. The “priority areas” include punishment to main culprits of sacrilege and related police firing incidents; arrest and exemplary punishment for “big-fish” in drug trafficking; assurance that Centre’s farm laws will not be implemented in Punjab; cancelling faulty Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs); and addressing the issue of protesting State Government employees.
In response, the Chief Minister informed the PPCC’s new team that all the key issues of concern, raised by them, were already in “advanced stages of resolution” by the State Government.