Captain gets nod to lead Assembly polls in Punjab from high command; Rawat to meet Sonia Gandhi to brief grievances of Sidhu camp

After the top leadership of the Congress party has made it clear that Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amrinder Singh will be leading the party in the upcoming state Assembly polls, the party's in charge of the Punjab unit Harish Rawat will be meeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday to brief the grievances of the 'Sidhu camp'.

Punjab is scheduled to go to the polls early next year and AICC in charge of the state Harish Rawat has made it amply clear that the party will contest the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections under the leadership of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

According to the sources, a message has been conveyed to Captain that Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi wants that party must remain in power in Punjab and Amarinder Singh should focus on it.

But the situation is still tense as resentment is high in a large section of the leaders in Punjab's Congress.

This is because, after the recent announcement of Amarinder Singh given the charge to lead the party in the upcoming state Assembly elections, a delegation of seven leaders, including four ministers and three MLAs from Sidhu's group met Rawat in Dehradun on Wednesday.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Pargat Singh on Wednesday said, "there is growing resentment in MLAs against Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh."

Briefing media persons, Singh said, "Due to the non-settlement of issues, there is resentment in MLAs. I suggest the Congress high command under the supervision of AICC observer, the chief minister should call a meeting of all MLAs and decide after discussing with them."

Rawat, on Wednesday, met the delegation of the 'Sidhu group' of the Congress' Punjab unit.

"Four ministers and three MLAs met me. They expressed their concerns and said that they are concerned about the chances of the party's victory in the state. They said they are not against anyone, they want to go to the polls with a clear roadmap so that we can win," Rawat told reporters after the meeting with the delegation earlier.

"There is no threat to the party or government and ministers who met me conveyed that they want to go to the polls with a clear roadmap for victory."

He also said they had some grievances about the functioning of the state and district administrations.

"If a Congress MLA considers himself insecure then it's a matter of concern," he said.

The war front is visible in the state among the factions now, however, Harish Rawat has once again tried to douse down the flames.

( With inputs from ANI )

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor