CHANDIGARH: Firebrand congress leader and Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu could face more action and might even lose his newly allotted portfolio of power and renewable energy sources.
Highly placed sources said that Punjab CM Amarinder Singh today met senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel in Delhi and discussed the issue of Sidhu with him and reportedly told him that if Sidhu does not join his new department, it will be allotted to someone else.
Amarinder gave the reasons for changing Sidhu’s portfolio and told Patel that he was convinced to change it, as the revamp of the state cabinet is prerogative of the Chief Minister. It is learnt that Amarinder will not have met Patel if he was told to reconsider his stand by the party high command as he conveyed him that decision on Sidhu is final.
Interestingly it has been a month that Sidhu was removed as local bodies minister and was given the new department which he has refused to join. "If Sidhu does not join the ministry in the coming days, the CM might take strict action against him for defying his orders,’’ said a leader on condition of anonymity.
Now, what will Sidhu do after this meeting between Amarinder and Patel remains to be seen. Sidhu had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi a few days back. Patel was asked by the Gandhis to amicably sort out the matter between Sidhu and Amarinder.