Although Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh has cautioned the high command against 'sacrificing' the party for an individual, the All India Congress Committee on Sunday evening appointed cricketer-turned-politician and former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief.
While Sidhu is appointed as party chief, four working presidents were also appointed to placate the sulking Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh. Sangat Singh Gilzian, Sukhwinder Singh Danny, Pawan Goel, and Kuljit Singh Nagra are appointed as working presidents.
Congress high command overlooks Captain's apprehensions.
As per media reports, Captain Amarinder Singh had earlier written a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday and expressed displeasure at the party's handling of infighting in the state unit by succumbing before pressure tactics of Sidhu.
Caption cautioned that if his rival and trenchant critic, Navjot Singh Sidhu, will be appointed Punjab Congress chief, it could lead to a split in the party, mentioned in the media reports.
In the letter, Singh has reportedly told Sonia Gandhi that senior leaders and traditional Congressmen would object to any such move. He predicted a split in the party in case Sidhu was appointed as party chief of Punjab.
Capt-Sidhu infight started in 2019
Navjot Singh Sidhu, who joined the Congress in 2017 after resigning from BJP, is considered to be close to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, both of whom he met on June 30.
Infighting between Capt Amarinder and Sidhu started way back in July 2019 when the latter had quit the Cabinet after being divested of local bodies portfolio. The tussle has intensified over the sacrilege issue after Punjab and Haryana High Court, in May this year, quashed a probe report into the Kotkapura firing incident.
Sonia Gandhi appointed a panel to bring truce between two leaders
In June Congress president Sonia Gandhi had constituted a panel of senior leaders to resolve the issue. The three-member panel was headed by the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and former Delhi MP JP Agarwal and Harish Rawat were its members. This panel held individual discussions with all Congress leaders of Punjab to end infighting in the party.
