All is not Well with Congress in Punjab, in UP Priyanka Gandhi to be the Congress Face for Election Campaign
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 17: Even after claiming that all the differences within the Congress in Punjab have been sorted out by the party high command, a 13-point letter the state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has written to the party president Sonia Gandhi and made public on Sunday, indicate that his tussles with the new chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi is still far from being over.
Sidhu’s absence at the recent wedding of Channi son in Chandigarh had signalled that all were not well between the two leaders and his letter to Mrs Gandhi requesting her to “give directions” to the Channi government to implement the agenda, which in his opinion was “Punjab’s last chance for resurrection and redemption,” give clear indication that the tussle between the two on the eve of the state Assembly elections was still on.
The worrying situation for the Congress in Punjab even after the change of leadership at the behest of Sidhu, comes in the wake of the Congress declaring the All India Congress Committee general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Varda to be the face of the Congress’ election campaign in Uttar Pradesh. The party’s newly-appointed campaign committee chief P L Punia while announcing this on Sunday insisted that Priyanka was “the most popular political figure in UP at present.”
Days after reaching a truce of sorts with Channi, Sidhu has dropped a new bombshell drawing up the 13-point agenda on governance – “priority areas” and promises made before 2017 polls he said “the state government must deliver upon.” Sidhu’s suggestions made in the letter to Mrs Gandhi range from arrest in drugs cases, creation of agricultural infrastructure to laws to control “cable mafia.”
His request to Mrs Gandhi to “direct the state government to act on those lines as a last damage control measure,” is clearly indicative that Channi was not well disposed towards him and might reopen his rift with the Chief Minister. Sidhu also shared on Twitter the letter written on October 15 — a day after he met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal and withdrew his resignation as Punjab Congress president. However, he did not put his designation as state Congress chief in the letter. He chose to make the letter public a day after Mrs Gandhi hit out at the party reformists at the Congress Working Committee meeting on Saturday asking all to refrain from “talking to her through the media.”
Sidhu has also sought a meeting with Mrs Gandhi to present a 13-point agenda for next year’s election manifesto which, he said, are long-term goals and separate from the issues he flagged in the letter. The biggest critic of the Amarinder Singh government who hoped to succeed him to the top post, the cricketer-turned-politician asserted in the letter that this was Punjab’s “last chance for resurrection and redemption.”
From being the richest state in the country, Punjab is now the most indebted, he wrote. The issues he flagged include sacrilege cases, Punjab’s drug menace, agricultural issues, employment opportunities, sand mining and welfare of backward castes, electricity and transport and stresses that they need to be resolved at the earliest. Sidhu also stated that the Cabinet should have a Majhbhi Sikh, a Dalit from Doaba, and two backward class ministers. “Thus, I request you please kindly consider these points and give your august direction to the State Government to act in the best interests of the People of Punjab immediately,” he wrote.
Sidhu, who hoped to succeed the deposed chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, ran into trouble with Channi as soon as the AICC picked him as the new chief minister dashing Sidhu’s hopes. Making his displeasure felt with appointments and cabinet reshuffle under the new chief minister, Sidhu resigned as Punjab Congress chief last month. He was back on board the next day after the Chief Minister agreed to consider his suggestions.
Raising the issue of liquor in the agenda, Sidhu has demanded that the liquor trade in the state should be centralised and a Corporation should run it. On sand mining, Sidhu has once again supported his earlier model of providing sand at a fixed reasonable price to the end-user. He has also listed regular jobs and stated that at least 20 employees unions are already protesting against the contractual system in the state.
“It might be the last damage control exercise or else, Mafia-Raj ruling the state patronized by the Badals will take the state to the extent of financial emergency, joblessness, corruption, and agrarian crisis, from which, there will be no return,” Sidhu wrote.
“Today, I write to your esteemed self with priority areas among the 18-point agenda of the 2017 campaign and the manifesto promises which the state government must deliver upon.”
Sidhu then said the people of Punjab demand justice for the 2015 police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in Faridkot following the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib during the previous SAD-BJP regime.
On the drugs issue, the Punjab Congress chief said, “The big fish mentioned in the STF report must be immediately arrested and given exemplary punishment.” He also wrote that the State government must reject the “three black farm laws” of the Centre “by announcing that they will not be implemented in Punjab at any cost”.
The State government must release a white paper on power purchase agreements and cancellation of “all faulty PPAs as promised by us”, Sidhu said in the letter. “Thus, I request you kindly consider these points and give your august direction to the state government to act in the best interests of the people of Punjab immediately,” he wrote.
Earlier this week, Sidhu met the former party national president Rahul Gandhi a day after he met AICC general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal and party in-charge of Punjab Harish Rawat at the AICC headquarters. Rawat was also present during Sidhu’s meeting with Gandhi, which stretched on for one and a half hours.
Rawat on Friday had said Sidhu had been “assured” that his concerns will be address and that he will soon resume his duties as the state chief. Emerging from the meeting with Gandhi, Sidhu told the media: “Whatever concerns I had, I shared those with Rahul ji. All those concerns are sorted out”. He refused to speak anything on his resignation.
During the meeting with Venugopal and Rawat, Sidhu raised his concerns over the 18-point agenda taken up by the Amarinder Singh government, on which actions are pending. These included action against those involved in the sacrilege issue and the drugs mafia. After a long spell of infighting in the state Congress unit, Amarinder Singh had resigned in September and Charanjit Singh Channi was sworn in as the new leader.
Meanwhile, on UP, another election-bound state, Punia, who on Friday was named as the head of the key 20-member election campaign committee of the Congress for the UP polls, noted that very rarely has the Congress announced a chief ministerial face and said that not having declared one till now will not hamper the party’s chances as it already has a personality like Priyanka Gandhi to lead the charge against the BJP.
It is a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP in the UP polls as both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have “fallen behind” and were “not in the fight anymore,” Punia claimed. Punia said Priyanka Gandhi has fought for truth on all issues and when the Lakhimpur Kheri incident happened, she immediately left to meet the family of the victims, and was detained in Sitapur, but remained determined in her quest for justice.
Punia said earlier also — be it Sonbhadra, Unnao or Hathras incidents — Priyanka Gandhi had fought for justice.
“So, the people are impressed by her and currently in the entire state, no politician is more popular than Priyanka Gandhi. As far as around whom the campaign will be centred, we are fortunate that Priyanka Gandhi is available for (campaigning) all the time,” he said.
