New Delhi: Ahead of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s mega rally in Punjab on February 11, factional fighting in the state unit has reached the AICC. According to party insiders, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has complained to AICC in-charge of Punjab Devender Yadav against former state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu over his alleged anti-party activities.
In his complaint, the second one in the recent past, Raja Warring has alleged that Sidhu skipped a meeting of the Punjab Election Committee held on February 1 and instead held a separate meeting with his supporters. Terming this an anti-party activity, Warring has suggested that appropriate action be taken against Sidhu.
“I will look into the issue. Ours is a democratic party and there may be some small issues between state leaders. But, it is not the case that the same cannot be resolved,” Devender Yadav told ETV Bharat. The Warring-Sidhu rivalry has been going on in the state unit for some time and the two leaders have been firing indirect salvos against each other.
Recently, when the AICC in-charge was on a three-day trip to review the state unit, both Warring and Sidhu made complaints against each other. Still, the complaint coming ahead of Kharge’s rally at Samrala on February 11 did raise some eyebrows within the AICC.
“This is a convention of our booth-level workers from across the state. We hope it will be a grand success,” said Yadav, adding that the entire state unit was working hard to revive the grand old party in the northern state. The refusal to have a tie-up with the ruling AAP, too, has been part of the desire to revive the Congress.
“Our preparations are on for all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state. We are going to do well. We have planned many agitational programmes in the state, including a yatra, which are being worked out,” said Yadav. During Yadav’s visit, the state leaders had suggested no pact with the AAP, saying an agreement between the ruling and the main opposition would send a wrong signal to the voters and also provide a chance for former allies BJP and Akali Dal to come together again.
In 2022 also, then AICC in-charge of Punjab Harish Chaudhary forwarded a complaint against Navjot Singh Sidhu to the then party chief Sonia Gandhi. It was alleged that Sidhu had made statements against their government earlier despite warnings and levelled corruption charges against former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi. The complaint also alleged that when Warring was taking charge, Sidhu just came, wished the new PCC chief and left the place in a hurry.
The complaint had also mentioned Sidhu’s tweets in which the former state unit chief had praised poll manager Prashant Kishor, who had parted ways with the Congress after his plan to revive the grand old party, was reviewed by a group of senior leaders.
Interestingly, it was Kishor, who had brought Sidhu to the Congress from the BJP ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls. Sidhu had won the polls from Amritsar East constituency and had become a minister in the Amarinder Singh Cabinet. Sidhu had wanted to be deputy chief minister, but Amarinder had said no to the proposal. Later, the two developed serious differences following which Sidhu left the government.
In 2021, Sidhu led a rebellion against Amarinder Singh and was made state unit chief by the high command, replacing Sunil Jakhar. But, Sidhu kept targeting the Chief Minister, who was later removed and replaced with Dalit Sikh Charanjit Singh Channi. Even this could not stop Sidhu and Channi from speaking against each other in public. As a result, the Congress lost the polls. Later, Sonia Gandhi had asked Sidhu to resign.
- " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="">
Read more: No One Above Party, Mistake Will Lead To Ouster: Punjab Congress Chief
