Chandigarh : In a development in Punjab politics, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is purportedly told to quit as the Chief Minister by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. This comes after the announcement of the emergency meeting of Punjab MLAs today at 5 pm which was announced last night.
Sources say over 50 of 80 Punjab Congress MLAs wrote to Sonia Gandhi demanding that Amarinder Singh be replaced as Chief Minister, forcing the party to call the emergency meeting of MLAs. Amarinder Singh as per NDTV sources said this morning that he won’t tolerate the humiliation.
The emergency meeting which will be held in the evening is said to be significant as many important decisions will be taken in the same. One of them being the appointment of a new CM in case Amarinder Singh quits the position.
Reports suggest that Sunil Jakhar, Pratap Singh Bajwa, Raj Kumar Verka, Inderjit are among the front runners who may replace Capt Amarinder Singh provided he steps down from the CM post. The MLAs of Sidhu’s camp may put forward the name of former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar as their choice for the chief minister of Punjab.
The reason for putting forward the name of Sunil Jakhar could be to establish the combination of a Hindu Sikh chief minister and Jat Sikh president of the Punjab Congress.
However, Sunil Jakhar is not an MLA. Another name that Sidhu’s camp may put forward for the post of chief minister is Navjot Singh Sidhu himself.
Sunil Jakhar also announced that Mr Singh was on his way out, “Kudos to Rahul Gandhi for adopting Alexandrian solution to this Punjabi version of Gordian knot. Surprisingly, this bold leadership decision to resolve Punjab Congress imbroglio has not only enthralled congress workers but has sent shudders down the spines of Akalis,” Mr Jakhar tweeted.
This comes a day after at least 40 legislators wrote to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, seeking a CLP meeting to chalk out a strategy for the Punjab polls in 2022 amid an ongoing tussle between Amarinder and Sidhu. The leaders had shot off a letter apparently against Captain, alleging that hardly anything was being done towards the fulfilment of the 18-point programme issued by the party high command.
The meeting, just days after the party brokered a tenuous detente between Amarinder Singh and his in-house rival Navjot Singh Sidhu, signalled a leadership change in the Punjab Congress government months before state polls.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
