The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group…reports Asian Lite News
Former Punjab Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday met election strategist Prashant Kishor after the latter declined the offer to join the Congress.
After the meeting, Sidhu tweeted: “Had a wonderful meeting with my old friend PK… Old wine, Old gold and Old friends still the best!!!”
Sidhu has been left out in the cold ever since the party lost the elections in Punjab earlier this year. He was asked to resign after the party appointed Amrinder Singh Raja Warring as the new President of Punjab Congress. Since then the Congress has set up a new team in Punjab, reportedly annoying the former state Congress chief.
Meanwhile, after declining the offer to join the Congress on Tuesday, Kishor said the party needs leadership and collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems.
“I declined the generous offer of #Congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections,” Kishor tweeted.
I declined the generous offer of #congress to join the party as part of the EAG & take responsibility for the elections.
In my humble opinion, more than me the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms.
“In my humble opinion, more than me, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms,” he added.
The Congress on Tuesday officially announced that election Kishor will not be working for the party as he declined to be part of the empowered action group for the 2024 general elections.
The declaration came a day after Sonia Gandhi had announced the constitution of the group.
He also inducted the Chajjalwadi family into SAD along with a large number of Congress sarpanchs and block samiti members…reports Asian Lite News
With Assembly elections in Punjab around the corner, the President of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Sukhbir Singh Badal, on Wednesday announced that former minister Bikram Singh Majithia would take on Pradesh Congress President Navjot Singh Sidhu from Amritsar (East) in addition to his candidature from the Majitha constituency.
Making the announcement in Amritsar, Sukhbir Badal also said that Satinder Singh Chajjwalwadi, the son of three-time legislator Ranjit Singh Chajjalwadi, would be the party nominee from Jandiala.
He also inducted the Chajjalwadi family into SAD along with a large number of Congress sarpanchs and block samiti members.
Giving details about the candidature of Majithia from Amritsar (East), Sukhbir Badal said: “Navjot Sidhu’s arrogance will be his undoing. He has been harping on his support among the masses. Now his support will be tested with ‘Majha da sher’ taking him on in his home constituency.
“He should get ready to fight the brave SAD workers. We will break his arrogance by ensuring he loses his security deposit.”
The SAD chief added: “We know he (Sidhu) has not done anything in his constituency for the last five years. He did not do anything in his constituency even as the local bodies’ minister. Amritsar East has drinking water and even sewerage issues which have not been addressed by Sidhu. Now the people of his constituency will hold him to count.”
Sukhbir Badal said the Congress government has targeted Majithia and even registered a false case against him as the latter has always raised the issues of the people.
“Majithia is known to fight for the people. This was not to the liking of the Congress government,” he added.
A day earlier Channi said he has spoken to Sidhu and invited him to have a chat and sort out differences, if any…reports Asian Lite News.
The crisis in the Punjab Congress between Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu seems to be continuing despite their first face-to-face meeting on Thursday since the latter resigned from the post.
The meeting lasted for over two hours and the issues raised by Sidhu will be put before the Cabinet on October 4, sources in the party said.
After the meeting at Punjab Bhavan, where AICC observer Harish Chaudhary was also present, both Channi and Sidhu left the meeting venue without talking to the media.
After meeting the Chief Minister, Sidhu held a closed-door meeting with his close confidantes, legislators Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, and Kuljit Nagra.
A day earlier Channi said he has spoken to Sidhu and invited him to have a chat and sort out differences, if any.
“Whoever is party President is head of the family. I had called him and told him that the party is supreme. I have spoken to him on phone and told him to let’s sit, talk it out and resolve the issue,” he had told the media here.
Days after the ‘deadlock’ between Channi and Sidhu over the appointments of the Director General of Police and Advocate General, besides re-induction of a ‘tainted’ legislator in the Cabinet, Sidhu, ahead of the meeting, indicated that he was ready to end the impasse.
He especially came from his hometown Patiala to meet Channi in Chandigarh.
Ahead of the meeting, Sidhu tweeted: “Chief Minister has invited me for talks will reciprocate by reaching Punjab Bhawan, Chandigarh at 3:00 PM today, he is welcome for any discussions !”
A day after his resignation as the Congress chief, Sidhu on September 29 said he will fight for truth till his last breath as the fight is for principles that he won’t compromise with.
“I will fight for truth until my last breath,” Sidhu had said in a video message posted on his Twitter handle.
“It is not a personal battle but a fight for principles. I won’t compromise on principles,” Sidhu had said categorically.
Without mincing words, he had said he would not accept tainted ministers being brought back into the newly constituted state cabinet led by Channi.
In the video message in Punjabi, the cricketer-turned-politician, who said his only religion is to make people’s lives better, had said he had fought for justice and for Punjab’s agenda.
Unhappy over the expansion, allocation of portfolios and appointments on crucial posts, including the Advocate General, Sidhu on September 28 resigned from his post after remaining at the helm for 71 days.
As his decision pushed the state Congress into deeper crisis, Sidhu, however, maintained that he would not be leaving the party.
Reiterating that he would accept any decision taken by Sonia Gandhi, Amarinder Singh termed the meeting with Rawat as fruitful, adding the latter would take up the issues raised by him with Gandhi…reports Vishal Gulati.
After days of hectic lobbying and parleys within the Congress in Punjab over “defiant” former Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was in direct loggerheads with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Sidhu was on Saturday night appointed the state unit party President, replacing Sunil Jakhar, a prominent Hindu face who was at the helm for over four years.
His appointment comes in the wake of serious objections raised by Amarinder Singh, who wrote to interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi against the elevation of Sidhu, a Jat Sikh, to the post, saying it would upset senior leaders representing the Hindu community.
Gandhi appointed Sidhu as the party’s new Punjab unit President along with four working Presidents. They are Sangat Singh Gilzian, Sukhvinder Singh Danny, Pawan Goel, and Kuljit Singh Nagra.
A day before his appointment, Sidhu did hectic “lobbying” by reaching out to as many of his party colleagues while the “sulking” Chief Minister met Congress state in-charge Harish Rawat here on Saturday and categorically told him that he won’t meet Sidhu until he apologises for his “derogatory” tweets.
Reiterating that he would accept any decision taken by Sonia Gandhi, Amarinder Singh termed the meeting with Rawat as fruitful, adding the latter would take up the issues raised by him with Gandhi.
It was learnt that Rawat came to Chandigarh for a meeting between Amarinder Singh and his bete noire Sidhu, ahead of the official announcement of the latter’s appointment as the state unit chief by Sonia Gandhi.
However, an adamant Amarinder Singh, who is reportedly upset with Sidhu for targeting his government over the power crisis and the sacrilege issue, categorically had told Rawat that there would be no rapprochement until Sidhu apologises in public for his “derogatory tweets and interviews”.
Earlier, Amarinder Singh had even written to Sonia Gandhi, warning that the party would split if Sidhu was given charge of the state Congress.
In his letter, the Chief Minister had said that he will not contest under Sidhu if he is elevated to the top organisational post in the state.
The letter was delivered to Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi before she met cricketer-turned-politician on July 16.
Just hours ahead of the revamp in the state unit, 10 MLAs issued a joint statement in support of the Chief Minister and said Sidhu was a celebrity and undoubtedly an asset to the party, but criticism of his own party in public has created the rift.
Cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu’s political innings with the Congress is just a new and his rivals see him a turncoat politician.
In March 2017, he was inducted as a Cabinet minister in the new Congress government in Punjab headed by Amarinder Singh.
At that time, Sidhu was not designated as Deputy Chief Minister, as was being speculated in political circles.
Sidhu, who joined the Congress in January, just days ahead of the February 4 assembly elections in Punjab, won the Amritsar-east Assembly seat with a margin of over 42,000 votes.
Sidhu had earlier remained Member of Parliament from Amritsar when he was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was elected MP in 2004, 2007 (by-election) and 2009.
He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Narendra Modi government in April 2016.
Ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections, Sidhu had resigned from the Rajya Sabha and said: “At the behest of the Prime Minister, I had accepted RS nomination for the welfare of Punjab. With the closure of every window leading to Punjab, the purpose stands defeated, now a mere burden. I prefer not to carry it.”
Within the Congress, Sidhu had been lying low since his resignation from the state Cabinet in July 2019.
He had resigned from his post as a Cabinet Minister in the state on July 14, 2019 after differences with Amarinder Singh over portfolio allocation. Sidhu was in-charge of local bodies but was shifted to the Power Department.
Time and again he was meeting top party leaders, including Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi, and apprised them of the political situation in Punjab.
Appealing to the people to join him and “be part of the resurrection”, Sidhu, who has never been far from controversies, even hogging the limelight as fallout — whether for good or bad.
Only time will tell that whether Sidhu will be able to return his party to power with Amarinder Singh remaining the Chief Minister’s face for the upcoming election, slated in early 2022.
