Congress leadership keeps 'wait and watch' approach

With internal troubles continuing in Punjab Congress, the Congress high command has adopted "wait and watch policy" and is keen for state leaders to sort out the issues that could cast a shadow on the party's preparations for assembly polls early next year.

Sources said Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had sought time for a meeting from Congress President Sonia Gandhi but the meeting is yet to materialise.

They said party leader Harish Chaudhry, who has replaced Harish Rawat as AICC incharge of Punjab, has held meetings with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi but has not commented on the deliberations.

The sources said that Sidhu has been asked to raise his issues in a party forum and the state leadership has been asked to settle the issues at the state level to the extent possible.

Sidhu has been airing his differences over some actions of the Charanjit Singh Channi government.

On Monday, he made a veiled attack on the state government over some please-all announcements ahead of assembly polls and said that Punjab's welfare "comes from a roadmap and not by offering 'lollipops'".

The chief minister had announced 11 per cent hike in dearness allowance for state government employees and slashed power rates by Rs 3 per unit for the domestic sector.

Punjab Congress has been seeing an internal rift for several months and Channi became chief minister in September after Capt Amarinder Singh resigned.

Sidhu also tendered his resignation as Punjab Congress chief on September 28 over differences with some decisions of the Channi government. His resignation has not been accepted by the party's central leadership.

The state unit had earlier seen a tussle between Sidhu and Amarinder Singh.

( With inputs from ANI )

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