Navjot Sidhu as Punjab Congress chief? Sonia Gandhi works out formula to end infighting ahead of polls
In a bid to pacify disgruntled Congress leader Navjot Singh Sindhu, the party high command could appoint him as the new chief of the organisation's Punjab unit, sources told India TV.
Sources said that Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi along with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra have worked out a formula wherein Sidhu will be made the new Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief. Sunil Kumar Jakhar currently heads the Congress' state unit.
The development assumes significance as Sidhu, who had resigned from the Punjab Cabinet after he was divested of the local bodies portfolio in 2019, has been at loggerheads with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. He has attacked the CM over the delay in justice in the 2015 incidents of sacrilege and subsequent police firing.
Sidhu had earlier met Priyanka and Rahul in Delhi. It is believed that the two leaders had assured Sidhu to address his grievances. Singh, on the other hand, had met Sonia Gandhi and said that he will "accepted whatever she decides".
Sidhu and Singh had last month appeared before an AICC panel set up by Sonia to end the factionalism in the Congress' state unit.
Sidhu and Singh have been attacking each other over the sacrilege issue with the latter terming the former's outbursts "total indiscipline".
The AICC panel in its report submitted to Sonia had recommended that to work out a formula to accommodate all sections and give a prominent role to Sidhu, either in the state cabinet or in the organisation.
The cricketer-turned-politician had quit the BJP in 2016. He was then a Rajya Sabha MP. He later joined the Congress and won elections in 2017 from Amritsar East, a seat represented by his wife from BJP's quota until she revolted in 2016.
Sidhu has also been heaping praise on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal which has triggered talks of him exploring the idea of joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
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