With political furore peaking in Punjab post the resignation of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, a meeting of MLAs was held with state in-charge Harish Rawat and Congress leader Ajay Maken to decide the new chief minister who would take the party through crucial assembly polls in a couple of months. "A resolution was passed that Sonia Gandhi's decision will be final on this matter. Today you will get to know her decision," Pawan Goel, working president, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, said.
Amarinder had resigned following a protracted feud with state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, saying he felt "humiliated" at the way the party handled the infighting in the state unit.
Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, current state unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa are frontrunners for the post of the CLP leader. Names of senior party leaders Ambika Soni, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Brahm Mohindra, Vijay Inder Singla, Punjab Congress working president Kuljit Singh Nagra and MP Partap Singh Bajwa are also doing the rounds.
Earlier, reports had surfaced that a section of Congress MLAs had written to the party leadership to convene a CLP meeting to discuss the poll strategy and progress on the 18-point agenda, which includes action on the 2015 desecration cases and arrest of the big fish in drug rackets. Last month, four ministers and around two dozen party legislators had raised a banner of revolt against Amarinder Singh and had said they had no faith in his ability to honour unfulfilled promises.
Four ministers—Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi—had demanded he be replaced. The crisis in the party's state unit has been brewing for the past many months.
-Inputs from PTI
