Punjab crisis resolved? Captain to stay on as CM, Sidhu to be party chief

New Delhi, July 15: The stalemate in the Punjab Congress is likely to end with reports stating that Captain Amarinder Singh will continue as chief minister, while Navjot Singh Sidhu will be made party chief.

It has also been reported that the Punjab Congress will have two working presidents from the Hindu and Dalit communities and a formal announcement to this effect will be made soon.

It may be recalled that Captain Singh had recently met with the Congress high command amidst cries for a change of leadership by the Sidhu camp.

The former Punjab minister is at loggerheads with Chief minister Amarinder Singh and has gone public against him.

The Congress leadership is trying to revamp the party''s Punjab unit and present a united face ahead of assembly elections in the state early next year.

Rahul Gandhi has been meeting party leaders from Punjab for their views on the political situation and steps needed to strengthen the party ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.

Sidhu, who had resigned from the Punjab Cabinet after he was divested of the local bodies portfolio in 2019, has been at loggerheads with Chief Minister Singh.

He has attacked the chief minister over the alleged delay in justice in the 2015 incidents of sacrilege and subsequent police firing.

The chief minister had slammed Sidhu for continuously attacking him over the sacrilege issue and termed the former''s outbursts "total indiscipline".

Earlier this month, Sidhu had appeared before a three-member panel set up by the Congress to resolve the infighting within the party''s state unit.

On June 22, Singh appeared before the panel, headed by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, in Delhi. However, he returned to Chandigarh without an audience with party president Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi.

AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat and former MP J P Aggarwal are members of the panel.

(With PTI inputs)