Pakistan will benefit from Punjab episode: Kapil Sibal

pakistan, kapil sibal — Image Source : PTI
Pakistan will benefit from what happened in Punjab: Kabil Sibal questions Congress decisions

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Wednesday, while reacting to Former Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation said that Pakistan and ISI will benefit from the current political crisis in Punjab as it is a bordering state.

"A border state (Punjab) where this is happening to Congress party means what? It is an advantage to ISI and Pakistan. We know the history of Punjab and the rise of extremism there... Congress should ensure that they remain united," said Kapil Sibal.

Kapil Sibal, who is a part of G-23, a group of 23 leaders, said that the group has written another letter to party president Sonia Gandhi to call a CWC meeting soon. The group also wrote and reiterated its demand of conducting all pending organisational elections including for the president post and Central election committee.

"Why are people leaving? Maybe we should see whether it is our fault? The irony of the Congress is that those who are close to them (leadership) have left and those who they think are not close to them are still there," the Congress leader further questioned.

Workers of Delhi Congress, in response have staged a protest against the senior party leader outside his residence in New Delhi, hours after Sibal reiterated demands for sweeping reforms raised by G-23 leaders by showing placards reading 'Get Well Soon Kapil Sibal'.

"Sonia Gandhi ji had ensured that Kapil Sibal becomes a minister in Union Cabinet despite not having organizational background. Everyone in the party is being heard. I want to tell Mr Sibal and others that they shouldn't degrade the organization that gave them an identity," said Congress general secretary Ajay Maken, reacting to Sibal's comments.

"Those who were special to him, they left him, those who thought they were not special, he is standing with them," Kapil Sibal commented on Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation.

Kabil Sibal's statements have come after Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday quit as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, triggering other resignations and plunging the party into a fresh crisis just months ahead of the assembly elections.

Hours after his resignation, Razia Sultana, a part of the new 18-member ministry led by Charanjit Singh Channi, too put in her papers, expressing solidarity with the former cricketer.

Punjab Congress general secretary Yoginder Dhingra and treasurer Gulzar Inder Chahal followed with their resignations.

Amid a flurry of political activity, several state Congress leaders visited Sidhu at his home in Patiala.

Sidhu, 57, who announced his resignation shortly after the allocation of portfolios to the new ministers, said he remains with the party.

He was appointed the party's state unit president on July 18 amid a bitter power tussle with Amarinder Singh, who stepped down as the CM 10 days back while accusing the party high command of humiliating him.

Sidhu didn't elaborate why he has quit.

But speculation in party circles ranges from his displeasure over the allocation of the home portfolio to Deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa to the appointments of the acting police chief and the state advocate general by the new CM.

"The collapse of a man's character stems from the compromise corner, I can never compromise on Punjab's future and the agenda for the welfare of Punjab," he said in his letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.