Sonia Gandhi ropes in Kamal Nath for Punjab polls roadmap amid infighting: Sources

While the internal tussle in the Punjab unit of the Congress is yet to reach any logical conclusion, sources on Tuesday suggested that party loyalist Kamal Nath has been roped in to frame strategies for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. Party's Former President Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, as per sources, have been advised to keep away from politics in Punjab and focus on other important issues. Instead of them, Kamal Nath will be planning the future course of action for the Punjab Congress, sources informed. 

Navjot Singh Sidhu to move to Aam Aadmi Party?

Earlier in the day, Navjot Singh Sidhu uploaded a post, which got many guessing.  AAP had always "recognized my vision and work for Punjab" and knows who is really "fighting for the state", he wrote, raising speculation that he is warming up to Arvind Kejriwal's party. "Our opposition AAP has always recognized my vision and work for Punjab. Be it before 2017- Beadbi, drugs, farmers issues, corruption and power crisis faced by people of Punjab, raised by me or today as I present 'Punjab Model'. It is clear they know - who is really fighting for Punjab," Sidhu tweeted.

Captain Amarinder Singh, instead of expressing shock over the Tweet of the cricketer-turned-politician, as per sources, said that this 'kind' of a statement was rather expected from him. He said, "I always tried to draw the attention of the party towards his real intentions, but no one believed me."

The tweets of Sidhu come off as a surprise as only a couple of weeks back he had met both Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi for an 'elaborate meeting'. 

It is after his tweets that the Congress party announced that they would be roping in Kamal Nath for chalking out the roadmap for the 2022 elections. While the Congress party took the name of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, the name of Sidhu was not taken for discussions with Kamal Nath. As per sources, the party after witnessing the swings of Sidhu is all set to sideline him. 

Infighting in Congress' Punjab unit persists

Navjot Singh Sidhu has been repeatedly attacking the state government and the Punjab CM over the purported delayed justice in the incidents of desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib and the subsequent police firing incident. Though Singh and Sidhu attempted to resolve their differences over tea on March 17, 2021, a positive outcome proved to be elusive. The relationship took a turn for the worse after the Punjab & Haryana HC quashed the SIT probe into the firing cases on April 9. 

Breaking his silence on Sidhu's attacks, Singh on April 27 dared him to contest from Patiala in the 2022 polls and predicted that he will lose his deposit. Furthermore, he contended that Sidhu wanted to join some other party. In order to end factionalism in the party's Punjab unit, Congress president Sonia Gandhi formed a committee comprising Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge, ex-Delhi MP JP Agarwal, and AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab Harish Rawat on May 28.

Since the last month, the panel has met multiple stakeholders including MLAs, Ministers and the CM to ascertain their views ahead of the 2022 Assembly election. However, the attempts to mollify him seem to have failed for the time being as he hit out at the Punjab government in a series of interviews on June 20. In a veiled dig at Amarinder Singh and the Badals, he hit out at "two powerful families" whom he accused of controlling Punjab and overriding the interests of the state for their vested interests. After meeting Sonia Gandhi on July 6, Singh said, “Whatever the Congress President decides on Punjab, we will accept it".