Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Charanjit Singh Channi is scheduled to meet Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi today. He will also meet Central leaders of Congress later in the day.
The Punjab chief minister on Thursday urged the Centre to withdraw its letter on postponing the paddy procurement in the state from October 1. Paddy procurement usually commences from October 1.
Channi will meet PM Modi tentatively at 4 pm. Soon after taking over as the chief minister, Channi had written to Modi seeking time for a courtesy call. Before this, Channi had made a couple of rounds to the national capital to finalise names for his new cabinet.
Channi’s visit to Delhi comes amid a major turmoil that has gripped the Punjab unit of the Congress with the surprise resignation of Navjot Singh Sidhu as its president. Channi held a meeting with Sidhu, and Sidhu is likely to be on board with Congress.
Sidhu resigned from his post this week along with three ministers. Congress is facing the era of resignations since Captain Amarinder Singh resigned from his post of CM. The feud began when in July, the Congress party appointed Navjot Sidhu as its Punjab Chief even though Captain Amarinder Singh was not happy with the decision. Following this, in August, four ministers and approximately two dozen party legislators raised complaints against Amarinder Singh which pointed out a fact that they did not believe in him anymore.
Sidhu had said that Amarinder Singh was replaced as Chief Minister in a series of events that had his approval. He tweeted his resignation, “The collapse of a man’s character stems from the compromise corner. I can never compromise on Punjab’s future and the agenda for the welfare of Punjab. Therefore, I hereby resign as the President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. I will continue to serve the Congress,” Navjot Sidhu wrote in his resignation letter.
Punjab Congress has been in turmoil since a few months now, last week Captain resigned from his post as 40 MLAs wrote to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to replace him. He felt the move by the MLAs humiliating and said that he won’t tolerate it anymore.
After captain’s resignation Charanjit Singh Channi was made CM of Punjab. On Tuesday there were media reports about Amarinder Singh likely to meet Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP) President JP Nadda and Union Minister Amit Shah. Hours after Captain’s visit to Delhi reports, Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted his resignation from Punjab Congress Chief.
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