Let’s talk it out, Charanjit Singh Channi reaches out to Navjot Singh Sidhu

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 29

Amid the ongoing political crisis in the state unit of the Congress, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday reached out to Navjot Singh Sidhu in a bid to resolve issues through talks following the former cricketer’s resignation from the post of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president.

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In the backdrop of efforts to mollify Sidhu, the party high command rushed AICC Punjab affairs incharge Harish Rawat and observer Harish Chaudhary to Chandigarh to keep a watch on the developments in the state unit. Chaudhary is learnt to have interacted with some MLAs and party leaders. Channi had yesterday sent ministers Pargat Singh and Amrinder Singh Raja Warring to meet Sidhu.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting, Channi said, “The party is supreme and the government follows the party’s ideology. I have spoken to Sidhu over the telephone today. I told him he should come, sit and talk.”

“The (state) president is the head of the party. The head has to sit among the family,” he said, adding that Sidhu had agreed to meet him.

Sidhu had abruptly resigned, plunging the Congress into a fresh crisis. Sidhu had questioned the appointments of the Director General of Police, the state’s Advocate General and “tainted” leaders. Channi, however, defended the appointments, saying he had acted on the basis of feedback from the party members.

On being asked about Sidhu’s response to his offer to talk, the CM said Sidhu told him he would give the time for the meeting. “We will sit with him and talk. I have no objection or any ego in anything,” he said.

Giving credence to the efforts to mollify Sidhu, the three working presidents of the Pradesh Congress Committee — Kuljit Nagra, Pawan Goel and Sukhwinder Danny — issued a statement appreciating Sidhu and Channi for the announcement of waiving pending electricity bills of consumers having load of up to 2 KW.

Haven’t quit: A-G

• A-G APS Deol has dismissed as frivolous the rumours of his resignation from the post
• “There is absolutely nothing. I was in the Cabinet meet for two hours and also in the evening as my opinion was needed on some issues,” he said

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