Politics
Time is running out for the Congress in Punjab
KALYANI SHANKAR
Captain Amarinder Singh , the Chief Minister , hardly has any option but to take the dissidents along and run a united ship
The Congress leadership is engaged in damage control in Punjab with the political crisis threatening to go out of control . The high command is looking for a formula to calm down the tempers of the dissidents against Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh . The Assembly elections are scheduled early next year . Punjab is one of the few Congress-ruled states and it would like to retain it . It is a sensitive border state which has seen violence in the past .
While the chief minister is considered close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi , his baiters draw their strength from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi . The brother and sister see main critic and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu as a leader with appeal among Punjab ' s youth . However , after all the drama played out in Delhi last week when 25 legislators and other senior leaders as also the Chief Minister met a three-member panel led by leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge , all we know is
12 Legacy India | June 2021 that the committee , set up by Sonia , after talking to the dissidents , is against a leadership change . But at the same time it wants the dissidents to be accommodated in the party and the government in a reshuffle . Though the Captain sought votes in 2017 on his plea for a last chance to rule , he has now changed his stand and will seek another term .
Congress is having a leadership crisis even at the national level . Rahul Gandhi , though not occupying
This is not the first time the chief minister has faced dissension in party ranks . With the support of Sonia Gandhi , the Captain survived a rebellion in 2005 but a similar crisis has engulfed him in his second term , with cabinet members and party legislators openly defying his writ . any position , is said to be taking most of the decisions . Even in the case of Punjab , both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi talked to the Captain in a virtual meeting last week .
This is not the first time the chief minister has faced dissension in party ranks . With the support of Sonia Gandhi , the Captain survived a rebellion in 2005 but a similar crisis has engulfed him in his second term , with cabinet members and party legislators openly defying his writ . Sidhu the cricketer-turnedpolitician is leading the attack . The ambitious Sidhu may not command much influence over Congress MLAs or the cadre , but his rebellion against the Captain has galvanised the dissidents . Though the dissidents have complained against him , they do not agree on his replacement . The recent outburst of animosity came as the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed an SIT report into the Kotkapura firing incident of 2015 . Sidhu accused the Chief Minister of evading responsibility .
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