The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 103

The International News Weekly India
July 19, 2019 | Toronto 08
No reconciliation with Sidhu, says Punjab Cong in-charge
Chandigarh: Congress
incharge of Punjab
affairs Asha Kumari said
there has been no attempt
at any reconciliation
with sulking party leader
Navjot Singh Sidhu after
his resignation from the
state cabinet. She said
that if Sidhu had any
“perceived grievance, he
neither took it up with
chief minister Amarinder
Singh nor her.
Kumari, who accompanied
Amarinder to
meeting party MPs from
Punjab in New Delhi
on Tuesday, told TOI,
“What is there to reconcile
or reach out to him?
It seems to be a perceived
grievance. Nobody asked
him to resign. He is a
minister. The party gave
him a cabinet berth and
wants him to continue. If
he doesn’t want to work,
what can one do? Power
is a bigger portfolio than
local bodies as it is connected
to every household
in Punjab. Functioning
of local bodies
is limited to parts of the
state.”
She said if he had any
grouse as a minister, he
could have gone to the
chief minister.
“But he hasn’t done
that, as per my knowledge,”
she said.
Without naming party
president Rahul Gandhi,
Kumari said Sidhu
approached someone
else and his demand was
“trashed”.
She cited the example
of another cabinet minister
O P Soni, who was
also sore over losing
school education portfolio
in the same reshuffle.
“He put forth his
point to Captain saab and
was assured that it will
be looked into, and the
matter was resolved. He
also spoke to me, besides
a couple of other ministers.
We have to follow
the party system. There
is nothing that cannot be
reviewed,” she said.
Over a month after he
I don’t even have a power minister,
says Amarinder
Chandigarh: I don’t even have a power
minister,” chief minister Amarinder
Singh said in New Delhi on Tuesday when
asked about the proposal to set up atomic
plants in Ropar and Bathinda. Amarinder,
who met health minister Dr Harsh
Vardhan earlier in the day, was meeting
Union ministers and MPs for the second
day in the national capital on Tuesday.
While talking about the atomic enery
plan, the chief minister said Punjab was
yet to receive a proposal from the Centre
for setting up the atomic energy units.
Talks on the subject of using atomic energy
for power production had been going
on for long, but there was nothing concrete
on the table yet, he told media.
Asked what he felt about it, Amarinder
said he would would have to wait
for the formal proposal. “At the moment,
I do not even have a power minister,” he
said. Cricketer-turned politician Navjot
Singh Sidhu, who was reassigned power
portfolio from local government after the
Lok Sabha elections has resigned from
the cabinet. A spokesperson said Amarinder
had been personally monitoring
the power department’s functioning on
a day-to-day basis in view of the ongoing
paddy season, which required continuous
power. The state has been witnessing
unprecedented peak demand for power in
view of an erratic monsoon, leading to a
shortfall in rain in some areas.
Decision on Sidhu’s resignation
remains pending
Chandigarh: A decision on the resignation offered by cabinet minister Navjot
Singh Sidhu, which was formally delivered to chief minister Amarinder Singh on
Monday, continues to be pending on Wednesday.
As on Wednesday night, sources said chief minister has still not reached Chandigarh
from Delhi and could not take a call on the matter. Earlier, he had said he
would decide after meeting MPs from Punjab in Parliament House on Tuesday
and also after reading the resignation letter on returning to Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, speculations were rife about the high command intervening in the
matter to make both sides scale down and Sidhu, too, may be asked to come to
Delhi. There was, however, no official confirmation of an attempt to make both
sides bury the hatchet.
“There has been no word from the high command to the chief minister yet,”
said a source. On the other hand, sources close to Sidhu said there had been persistent
attempts by the central leadership to make Sidhu come around to an amicable
solution.
Amid the turn of events, the meeting of the council of ministers scheduled for
July 18 has been postponed to next Wednesday. “It remains to be seen if the chief
minister will wait till the cabinet meeting to take a call on Sidhu’s resignation.
Most cabinet ministers have already criticized Sidhu for his decision not to assume
office as the power minister,” said a Congress leader.
If he decides to accept the resignation, Amarinder would forward it to the governor
for acceptance and in all likelihood fill the cabinet berth by allocating the
power portfolio.
was stripped of his previous
portfolios, Sidhu
had not taken charge of
his new assignment, as a
stalemate with the chief
minister had continued.
On Sunday, Sidhu had
tweeted his letter of resignation
from the state
cabinet, which he had
sent to Rahul Gandhi last
month.
Kumari said she was
not aware of Sidhu’s resignation
till now, even
though he submitted it
to the party’s national
president, Rahul Gandhi,
on June 10. She added Rahul
otherwise might have
discussed the issue with
Amarinder earlier.
Asked about Sidhu
pinning hopes on the
party high command for
intervening for him, the
party incharge said there
was no question of intervention
as he did not
discuss any issue. “Logically,
he should have spoken
to the chief minister
or me,” she added.
Sidhu had waited
for a month to make his
resignation public and it
shows that he was hoping
for reconciliation. Rahul
had asked party veteran
Ahmed Patel to speak to
both sides.
However, when Amarinder
met Patel for a
“courtesy call”, he reportedly
refused to discuss
Sidhu.
Amarinder had indicated
hardening of stance
on Sidhu by convening a
meeting to review the
power scenario in the
state last week amid talk
that he could write to the
governor to withdraw
Sidhu’s portfolio.