Punjab Congress crisis: Harish Rawat to reach Chandigarh for legislative party meeting

Congress Legislature Party has been called. Things will be discussed in the meeting, said party's Punjab general secy Pargat Singh amid rumours of Amarinder Singh resigning from CM post.

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh (L) and Congress in-charge Harish Rawat (R) (File Photos | PTI) 

NEW DELHI: Amid fresh rumblings in the Punjab unit of Congress, the party has convened an urgent meeting of its legislators in the state on Saturday in Chandigarh.

In a late-night tweet on Friday, state Congress in-charge Harish Rawat said: "The AICC has received a representation from a large number of MLAs from the Congress party, requesting to immediately convene a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) of Punjab. Accordingly, a meeting of the CLP has been convened at 5 PM on September 18 at Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee office.

"AICC directs the PPCC to facilitate this meeting. All congress MLAs of Punjab are requested to kindly attend this meeting," Rawat posted.

Rawat is set to reach Chandigarh later today along with Ajay Maken and Harish Chaudhary, the two observers appointed by the party's interim chief Sonia Gandhi.

Rawat said that the decision has been taken after consideration of requests from a large number of MLAs and that a meeting of the CLP will be convened today at 5 pm at the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee office.

PCC chief Navjot Sidhu took to Twitter to retweet Harish Rawat's post.

"As per the AICC directive, Congress Legislature Party meeting has been convened at @INCPunjab PPCC Office, Chandigarh on 18 September 2021 (Saturday) 5 PM," Sidhu tweeted.

This comes as a change of guard in Punjab with the appointment of new state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, a Cabinet reshuffle was scheduled on the cards.

However, the reshuffling seems to have erupted the infighting in the state. A delegation of MLAs and Ministers who are supposed to be from Navjot Singh Sidhu camp met Harish Rawat in Dehradun two weeks ago and asked for his intervention. As a result, the party has not yet been able to give a green signal to the Cabinet reshuffle.

Now a large section of party MLAs are on the side of Sidhu while party MPs from Punjab, Ministers and several other MLAs are supporting chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

Today's legislative party meeting is expected to be a show of strength for both sides.