Aman Sood
Tribune News Service
Patiala, September 28
Congress leaders close to Navjot Singh Sidhu are asking him to change his mind, a source said on Tuesday—hours after Sidhu stepped down as Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief.
Several senior Congress leaders, including Kuljit Nagra, Inderjit Bularia, Razia Sultana, and Kulwinder Danny, were huddled together with Sidhu at the latter’s ancestral home in Patiala, Yadavindra Enclave. Pargat Singh, an MLA from Jalandhar Cantt who was recently sworn in as a minister for the first time, is also believed to have joined the meeting.
Some leaders have said that his decision could backfire.
“We have asked him to rethink on his decision to quit at this juncture, if not for himself then for the Congress leaders who stood by him,” an MLA said.
Some 100 senior workers of the Congress party are expected to reach his Patiala residence and submit their own resignations in support of their leader, sources said.
“We back the decision of Sidhu, who has done the right thing by resigning,” they said.
Sources however said Sidhu has so far remained “resolutely silent”.
Close aides say he had told no one of his decision to resign.
Sources say that a section of Congress MLAs have requested Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi to “strictly ask party leaders not to promote groupies”.
An MLA warned of possible splinters in the party.
The party could be splintered, especially since many leaders have begun to feel “politically directionless”.
Some members of the PPCC who have given their resignation “verbally” are also at the meeting, sources said.
Sulking Sidhu meets aides; action shifts to Yadavindra Enclave—his Patiala home
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