New Delhi, December 15
The Congress Central leaders were today working overtime to resolve the week-long crisis in the party’s Punjab unit following reports that the dissident ministers and legislators were threatening to resign en masse on Tuesday.
Consequently, there was a flurry of activity in the party as the three-member AICC panel, looking into the Punjab problem, held a series of meetings throughout the day with all the key players, including Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Agriculture Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.
While Ms Bhattal stuck to her “one point agenda”, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the dissidents’ resentment against his office staff “was an administrative matter which can be easily resolved.” While holding out an olive branch, he also took potshots at the dissidents, saying some people were giving personal ambitions greater importance.
“When some people place themselves above the party, then you have situations like this,” he told press persons after his meeting with Mr. Manmohan Singh, adding that if they had a
problem, they should have discussed it with him instead of coming to Delhi. He,
however, maintained it was possible to find a solution, short of leadership change.
As activity picked up, a host of other players also stepped in today to broker peace between the two warring groups. AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni, who had so far, kept aloof from the Punjab problem, met the Chief Minister last night while a number of Amarinder loyalists approached the Bhattal camp but the efforts proved futile.
The Punjab MPs joined this effort as they, too, met panel members Ahmed Patel and Manmohan Singh as well as senior leader Arjun Singh in view of his familiarity with the state. They maintained that this internal crisis was doing immense damage to the party and only helping the Akalis gain ground. While the threat of resignation is a cause of concern, what is worrying the party central leadership even more is the fact that there has been no depletion in the ranks of dissidents.
Ms Bhattal, who claims the support of 33 legislators including 16 Ministers, is insisting she will not settle for anything less than a leadership change in the state. The AICC panel has been trying to work out some kind of “compromise package”, short of leadership change.
An adamant dissident group stepped up pressure on the Congress leaders, saying if the AICC panel failed to arrive at any decision today, it would be forced to take a “crucial aar ya par” decision tomorrow, having serious implications for Punjab politics. They, however, ruled out the possibility of joining hands with the Akalis or the BJP, saying their opposition to these parties remains unchanged.
