Navjot Singh Sidhu appointed Punjab Congress president

Amid the ongoing infighting in Punjab Congress, former State Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu was on July 18 appointed president of the Punjab Congress Committee alongwith four working presidents.  

An official statement from the All India Congress Committee said that Mr. Sidhu and the four working presidents have been appointed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi with immediate effect.  

The four working presidents include — Sangat Singh Gilzian, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Pawan Goel and Kuljit Singh Nagra.  

Ms. Gandhi is learnt to have individually spoken to Members of Parliament from Punjab on the issue of appointing Mr. Sidhu as Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief.  A senior leader from Punjab confirmed it to The Puucho and said the Congress chief seemed “determined” on Mr. Sidhu’s elevation.  

“Ms. Gandhi spoke to the MPs individually between 5 and 6 p.m. and each one of them was opposed to the idea of making Sidhu the PCC,” said the leader.  

Earlier in the day, there were hectic political activities in Punjab and Delhi. While MPs met at Rajya Sabha member Partap Singh Bajwa’s house over lunch in Delhi, a group of MLAs from Punjab issued a statement, urging the high command not to let down the Punjab Chief Minister.  

In Delhi, prominent MPs including Lok Sabha members Manish Tewari, Ravneet Bittu, Jasbir Gill and Perneet Kaur, wife of the Punjab Chief Minister, attended the lunch. Officially they met to formulate their position on the call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha to raise the farmers’ issue and not allow any other business in the House during the Monsoon session unless the farm laws are repealed.   

In Punjab, in an apparent attempt to garner support for himself Mr. Sidhu continued to meet several party leaders, including MLAs and Ministers across the State, even as at least 10 MLAs came out openly in support of Chief Minister Captain (retd) Amarinder Singh, urging the high command “not to let him down”.   

Senior MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira, sharing a statement on behalf of MLAs, urged the high command not to let down the Chief Minister because of whose unrelenting efforts the party stands well entrenched in Punjab.   

“There was no doubt that the appointment of State PCC chief was the prerogative of the party high command but at the same time washing dirty linen in public has only decreased the party graph during the last couple of months,” said the MLAs in the joint statement.

The MLAs backing Capt. Singh are Harminder Singh Gill, Fateh Bajwa, Gurpreet Singh, Kuldip Singh Vaid, Balwinder Singh Laddi, Santokh Singh Bhalaipur, Joginderpal, Jagdev Singh Kamalu, Primal Singh and Sukhpal Khaira.

They said that Capt. Singh commanded “immense respect” across different sections of society, particularly the farmers for whom he even endangered his chair as Chief Minister while passing the 2004 Termination of Waters Agreement Act.

They said the Chief Minister stood as a “tall leader amongst the Sikhs” because of his principled stand during testing times. “Since merely six months were left for the elections, pulling the party into the different directions will only harm its prospects in the 2022 polls,” they said.

The MLAs also supported the Chief Minister’s demand that Mr. Sidhu, who had made numerous tweets against him and the government, should tender a public apology so that the party and government could function in tandem.

The MLAs offered a word of caution to Mr. Sidhu, who they said was a celebrity and was no doubt an asset to the party but condemning and criticising his own party and government in the public has only created a rift in the cadres and weakened it.

Meanwhile, incumbent Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar has called a meeting of party legislators and district chiefs on July 19.    

Mr. Jakhar has said that in the meeting, a resolution will be passed by all MLAs and district heads to be forwarded to party’s national president reiterating that the decision taken by the high command regarding Punjab will be acceptable to all in the organisation. “Besides, the high command will be urged to take the final decision regarding the state at the earliest to enable the party settle vital issues of public importance at the earliest,” he said.  

As Punjab goes to polls early next year, the party’s central leadership is desperate to resolve the standoff between Capt. Singh and Mr. Sidhu, who had been at loggerheads since the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.