CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu has written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi seeking an appointment in person. He wants to present a 13-point agenda for the party manifesto for the 2022 Assembly elections. Congress had said earlier that differences in the Punjab wing had been sorted. But Sidhu’s request to the Congress president to give directions to the Charanjit Singh Channi government is seen as an indication of his tussle with the chief minister.
Among the 13 points, Sidhu mentions that the people of Punjab are demanding justice for the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing incidents at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan. He also highlights cable mafia, drugs, agricultural issues, giving cheap electricity, bringing liquor trade under government control, single window for industries, employment opportunities, sand mining, transport mafia, women and youth empowerment. The letter dated October 15 was written a day after he met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and KC Venugopal and withdrew his resignation as Punjab Congress president.
“Under your (Sonia) leadership Congress won two-third majority in the 2017 Assembly elections upon a pro-people agenda to give democratic and economic powers to the people of Punjab. I personally campaigned in 55 constituencies, among which we won 51 on the Punjab model of development according to which rightful resources of the state should come back to the state, instead of going to private pockets,’’ Sidhu tweeted on Sunday.
“After multiple deliberations and consultations with party workers across Punjab and with deep understanding of public sentiment over 17 years of public life I express with pain that this is Punjab’s last chance for resurrection and redemption. The issue at Punjab’s heart. as understood very well by you, and signified by the 18-point agenda given to the last chief minister are equally relevant today. I stood for each point in that agenda through the responsibility vested in me by the organisation,’’ Sidhu’s letter to Sonia read.
The letter added, “It might be the last damage control exercise. Else, mafia raj patronised by the Badals will take the state to financial emergency, joblessness, corruption and crises from which there will be no return. Thus I request you please kindly consider these points and give your august direction to the state government to act in the best of interest of the people of Punjab.”
Priyanka attacks Centre over price rise of fertilisers
A day after the Congress Working Committee resolved to keep fighting for the rights of farmers, the party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra criticised the Modi government for a further hike in the price of NPK and NP fertilisers. “The BJP government has increased by Rs 275 the price of NPK and by Rs 70 the price of NP fertilisers. The government increases the price of diesel everyday which has crossed Rs 100. Under BJP rule, workers and farmers face the burden of inflation,” she said.