The tussle between Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and his bete noire, state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu has escalated, with around 30 MLAs and ministers belonging to the Sidhu camp demanding replacement of the chief minister even as five ministers loyal to Amarinder have sought action against Sidhu's advisors for their controversial remarks.
More than 30 legislators, including four ministers in the state cabinet, today expressed lack of confidence in the leadership of Amarinder, saying they felt that the promises made in the previous Assembly elections could not be fulfilled under his chief ministership before the coming state polls. At a meeting held at the residence of Punjab Panchayat and Higher Education Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa in Chandigarh, it was decided that a five-member delegation representing the legislators would take up the demand of replacement of Amarinder with the party high command.
It was learnt that leaders from the Sidhu camp would meet Harish Rawat, AICC general secretary in-charge of party affairs in Punjab, in Dehradun later this evening.
The escalation of the tussle between Amarinder and Sidhu comes in the backdrop of the furore over certain controversial statements made by two of the four advisors recently appointed by the PCC chief—Malwinder Singh Mali and Dr Pyare Lal Garg—with regard to Kashmir and Pakistan.
On the other hand, five cabinet ministers and an MLA known to be close to Amarinder have urged the party high command to take “strong action under the law” against Mali and Garg.
The cabinet ministers—Brahm Mohindra, Vijay Inder Singla, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Balbir Singh Sidhu and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot—and MLA Raj Kumar Verka, also urged the party leadership to ask Sidhu to rein in his advisors as their “anti-national” and “pro-Pakistan” utterances are against national interest and also detrimental to the nation's security.
These leaders are also of the view that the controversial statements made by Sidhu's advisors were giving the opposition BJP an opportunity to rake up the PCC chief's moments of bonhomie with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan as also the army chief of the neighbouring country Qamar Javed Bajwa.
The opposition BJP has indeed taken potshots at the Congress over the infighting in its Punjab unit, with its spokesperson Sambit Patra today attacking Sidhu's advisors for their “pro-Pakistan” remarks, saying while they lived here and enjoyed all the benefits of being Indian citizens, they sang praise to Pakistan. “What they have said has been at the behest of Navjot Singh Sidhu,” Patra said.
