Punjab CM Amarinder Singh to meet Congress' 3-member panel over spat with Navjot Sidhu

As the political crisis in Congress continues, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh is set to meet the three-member panel set up the party on Thursday. Speaking to reporters on late Wednesday, ex-Uttarakhand CM  Harish Rawat, who is a member of the panel said that the Punjab CM will meet on Thursday or Friday to 'resolve factionalism'. The Punjab CM is facing an open rebellion from cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu ahead of the 2022 state assembly elections.

Punjab CM to meet 3-member panel

On Tuesday, Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu met the three-member panel in Delhi and apprised it of the ground reality in Punjab. Asserting that truth cannot be suppressed for long, he took another dig at Punjab CM Amarinder Singh by stressing the need to defeat every anti-Punjab force ahead of the 2022 Assembly election. Sidhu has allegedly targeted the CM for not acting against key Shiromani Akali Dal leaders in the sacrilege case, while Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi has also spoken to around 16 MLAs regarding the infighting.

Sidhu remarked, "I came here to convey the voice of the people from the grassroots in Punjab. My stance has been, is, and will remain that the democratic power which goes to the government and financial power which goes to the government in the form of taxes should go back to the people. The power of the people must return to the people in any form. I have conveyed the truth in its entirety. Truth can be suppressed but not defeated."

Sidhu's resignation

After a tumultuous spat with CM Captain Amarinder Singh during the Lok Sabha elections, Sidhu ad sent his resignation on June 10 to the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and tweeted about the same a month later. On June 6, Sidhu was given the power and new and renewable energy portfolio and was divested of the ministry of Local Government and Tourism and Cultural Affairs Departments. While he tendered his resignation as Punjab minister, the cricketer-turned-politician later confirmed that he will remain with the Congress.

Sidhu has been at loggerheads with the Punjab Chief Minister after he denied Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections. He and his wife have publically attacked the Punjab CM repeatedly during the election campaign. He later patched up with CM Amarinder Singh over an informal lunch, but it seems to have gone awry as Sidhu began to attack the CM again after the Punjab & Haryana HC quashed the SIT probe into the 2015 firing cases on April 9.