Punjab polls: Dissent brews in Congress as Amarinder-era Min Rana Sodhi skips party meet

The dissent in Punjab Congress continued unabated on Thursday as legislator Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi skipped the meeting of the party's Election Committee. Sodhi, who was the Sports Minister in the erstwhile Council of Ministers led by Amarinder Singh, was not included in Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi's Cabinet. His absence has sparked speculation about his political future as all Ministers, former Ministers and MPs were supposed to attend this key meeting.

Interestingly, former Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu, former Industry Minister Sunder Sham Arora, ex-Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and ex-Revenue Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar who were also dropped from the Cabinet attended the meet. Earlier, sources had revealed that Rahul Gandhi interacted with Rana Sodhi, Balbir Sidhu, Sadhu Dharamsot and Sunder Arora in order to stop them from joining hands with Amarinder Singh. Channi, AICC in-charge Harish Choudhary, state congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, his predecessor Sunil Jakhar and other leaders deliberated on the poll strategy for Punjab.

Punjab polls

In the 2017 Punjab Assembly election, Congress had won a whopping 77 seats in the 117-member House, whereas Shiromani Akali Dal could win only 18 seats. On the other hand, AAP emerged as the second-largest party with 20 seats. It is perceived that the formation of a new party by Amarinder Singh and Navjot Sidhu's disgruntlement over being ignored for the CM's post might have an adverse impact on Congress' poll prospects. 

Meanwhile, the former Punjab CM is currently in Delhi where he is likely to seal an alliance with BJP. Sources told Republic Media Network on Thursday that 10 top Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal leaders could be switching allegiance to the Punjab Lok Congress very soon. This comes even as the Sonia Gandhi-led party has allowed candidates to apply for a poll ticket till December 20 without having to tender any application fees.

Addressing a press conference after inaugurating the first office of his party on December 6, Amarinder Singh had affirmed, "In principle, a decision has been taken (to ally with BJP), now seat adjustment is to be done. We will also do seat adjustments with Dhindsa Sahab's party (Shiromani Akali Dal-Sanyukt). I will tell both parties that we should pick winners and support those candidates".