CHANDIGARH/ NEW DELHI:
Congress’s Punjab minder Harish Rawat on Thursday asked state party president Navjot Singh
Sidhu to sack his advisers Pyare Lal Garg and Malwinder Singh Mali over their “irresponsible remarks” on Kashmir and Pakistan that he said had “hurt people’s feelings”. If Sidhu doesn’t do so, Rawat said he would write to the party to remove the duo.
“For one, Congress has nothing to do with Sidhu’s advisers.
Secondly, the adviser’s remarks on Kashmir are not acceptable to Congress. Kashmir is an integral part of the country. If there is an unresolved issue with Pakistan, that is Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK). I have told Sidhu to remove his advisers. The party cannot accept such people,” Rawat told TOI over the phone.
Meanwhile, in an apparent show of strength, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh met around 55 Congress MLAs and eight MPs over dinner at the home of a cabinet colleague in Chandigarh on Thursday.
The CM’s meeting with party legislators has come amid the infighting between camps of the CM and Sidhu.
The ultimatum to Sidhu came a day after Rawat told a delegation of dissident legislators believed to be batting for the new PCC chief that Congress would contest the 2022 polls under CM Capt Amarinder Singh’s command.
Rawat later headed for New Delhi to update Congress president Sonia Gandhi on the turmoil in the state unit, which blew up on Tuesday with four ministers and 26 other MLAs demanding that Amarinder be replaced as CM.
Sources said the Congress high command had already asked the CM to try and mend fences with the dissenters, three of whom — Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa — stayed away from a meeting of the council of ministers on Thursday. Bajwa and Randhawa, along with a couple of other dissident MLAs, were in Delhi to meet the AICC brass and convey their grouses. Another prominent dissident, minister Charanjit Singh Channi, attended the Chandigarh meeting through video-conferencing,
In Congress circles in Delhi, the “sudden outburst” against Amarinder is being attributed to insecurity among MLAs in the wake of a survey that recommended that the party drop around 25 of them to stem anti-incumbency. Rawat held a meeting with general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and is likely to meet Sonia on Friday.
(With inputs from PTI)