Punjab CM submits resignation to governor. Harish Rawat and Ajay Maken rush to Chandigarh for the election of the leader of CLP
Punjab chief minister Captain Amrinder Singh has resigned. He handed over his resignation letter to the governor at 4.30 PM. He was asked by the central party high command to tender his resignation. Highly annoyed by the central High command Captain Amrinder Singh has said that he will take the future course of action after holding discussions with his close friends and state leaders under his influence. According to reports he had spoken to the Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi this morning complaining about the problems faced by him by his rivals within the party despite his abiding by all the directives of the high command. He said he is a committed and trusted Congressman who had served the party sincerely and with utmost loyalty. But he was asked to tender his resignation in view of his opposition within the party. Captain Singh had earlier held a meeting with his trusted lieutenants, ministers and lawmakers at his farm house but the attendance was little. The central party incharge of Panjab Harish Rawat who is also the AICC general secretary and senior Congress leader Ajay Maken has left fir Chandigarh to hold the meeting of the Congress Legislature party and discussions with senior party leaders to elect a new leader to be later on sworn in as the chief minister and constitution of the new council of ministers in the near future. Meanwhile the Congress Punjab Incharge Harish Rawat has tweeted : 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 of Punjab. According a meeting of the CLP has been convened on 18 September.
In another tweet the former president of Punjab Congress, earlier close to Captain Amrinder Singh, Sunil Jakhar has lauded Rahul Gandhi terming it a bold leadership decision. He tweeted : Kudos to Sh@Rahul Gandhi for adopting Alexandrian solution to this punjabi version of Gordian knot. Surprisingly, this bold leadership decision to resolve Punjab Congress imbroglio has not only enthralled Congress workers but has sent shudders down the spine of Akalies tweeted Sunil Jakhar.
There are clearcut indications that in the number game presently the wave is going against Captain Amrinder Singh as majority of MLAs want the change in leadership. It may be recalled that there had been a tiff between the present chief Navjyot Singh Sidhu and Captain Amrinder Singh for a year or so with their fighting coming in the open with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi meeting both of them separately in Delhi instructing them to bring peace in the party organisation. Central party observer Harish Rawat had to visit Chandigarh several times to keep both Captain Amrinder Singh and Sidhu in good humour. Though despite Captain being against the appointment of Navjyot Singh Sidhu as state president earlier, had finally submitted to the central high command’s pressure finally agreeing to accept his state Congress president ship but the feud still continued. The Congress chief had on May 28 appointed a committee comprising of Rajya Sabha LOP Mallikarjun Kharge, Harish Rawat and and Delhi MP JP Aggrawal, but after Captain Amrinder Singh not agreeing on Sidhu name as state party chief Sonia Gandhi on the advise of the committee appointed Navjyot Singh Sidhu as the state chief but the quarrels with both of them didn’t came to end finally leading to Captain Amrinder Singh’s resignation on the directive of Sonia Gandhi.
featured pic : NBT
