Upset Captain writes to Sonia, says Sidhu elevation will divide Congress

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is reported to have written a letter to Congress national president Sonia Gandhi, expressing resentment over the reports of Navjot Singh Sidhu going to be appointed as the state Congress president. In the letter, he said that this would cause a major split in Punjab Congress.

As per the sources, it has been said in the letter that if Sidhu is made the party chief, then the Congress will suffer a huge loss in the 2022 Assembly elections. Sources also said that due to the letter written by Captain Amarinder Singh, the announcement of the State Congress president had been postponed till further orders. Meanwhile, there are reports that Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat would reach Chandigarh on Saturday to talk to Captain Amarinder on the issue.

Earlier in the day, Navjot Singh Sidhu met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, a day after a dramatic escalation in the party’s Punjab crisis with a flurry of meetings between rival factions as a peace formula appeared to be a non-starter.

Sidhu arrived at 10, Janpath to meet the party’s interim president amid speculation about his appointment as the next chief of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC).

The party’s general secretary in-charge of Punjab, Harish Rawat will also meet Sonia Gandhi along with Sidhu.

A power tussle in Punjab Congress has been going on for almost a month. On Thursday, tensions peaked over the plan to make Sidhu the state Congress president. By 9 pm, both Amarinder Singh and Sidhu had rounded up MLAs and ministers on their side and gone into separate meetings.

Sources say that Sidhu held a meeting with six MLAs, including three cabinet ministers. On the other hand, the Chief Minister went into a huddle with party MLAs and MPs supporting him at his private farmhouse in Mohali.

Captain Amarinder Singh had met Sonia Gandhi last week, after which he said he would accept “what ever decision is taken by the Congress high command”.

The Congress leadership had formed a three-member committee to resolve factionalism in the state amid differences between Sidhu and Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.