Chandigarh [India]: Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said that he does not have any differences with Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and will work for his party’s win with a majority in the upcoming state Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference here today, Sidhu, who had tendered resignation from his Punjab chief post on September 28 this year, announced that he has taken back his resignation. “I have been meeting him (CM) for a long time. I have been speaking to him for the last one month. The first meeting was in Punjab Bhavan, at that time it was decided that the panel (on DGP) will come and in one-week things will be settled. It is a 90 days government, 50 days have gone,” he said.
“There’s nothing personal. I speak to him for the state. I speak to him for all the good that can be done for the state. I have no differences with Charanjit Channi, not at all. Whatever I do is for Punjab. I stand for Punjab. Punjab is my soul. That’s the goal,” he added.
On September 28, Sidhu resigned as the chief of the Punjab Unit of Congress. He was reportedly upset over the bureaucratic setup and his commands not being followed after the Cabinet expansion in Punjab.
Speaking further, the Congress leader said: “During the last 4.5 years, I have raised many issues such as liquor, buses, etc. The CM had centralised power but didn’t take any action. I don’t have any greed for a post but I only fight for Punjab’s people’s rights. I will make Congress win 80-100 seats in 2022 polls.”
Sidhu was appointed as the president of the Punjab Congress on July 23 this year following months of turmoil in the state Congress unit. He was apparently appointed against the wishes of then Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
Amarinder Singh had in September stepped down as the chief minister and recently tendered his resignation from the primary membership of Congress which has also been accepted by party interim chief Sonia Gandhi. The former chief minister has launched a new party ‘Punjab Lok Congress’.
Asked if Congress will rope Prashant Kishore as a political strategist for the 2022 Punjab assembly elections, Sidhu said: “It is the decision of the party, if CM says, they will decide on it.”
Congress is planning to re-rope Prashant Kishore as a political strategist for the 2022 Punjab assembly elections.
The revelation was made by Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi during a meeting with party MLAs in the state on Tuesday evening.
In a video of the meeting, Channi could be heard saying that Congress in-charge Harish Chaudhary has told him that “Prashant Kishore is likely to be introduced as a Political Strategist for Punjab Assembly Elections 2022.”
Elections to 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly are scheduled to be held next year. In 2017 Assembly polls, Congress won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats and ousted the SAD-BJP government after 10 years. Aam Aadmi Party emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured 3 seats.
