In a damage-control exercise, the Congress high command on Saturday activated backdoor channels to pacify the Charanjit Singh Channi-led group that held a show of strength at the former CM’s Morinda residence a day before.
Though Channi reached Delhi early on Saturday morning to take up the grievances of the state leaders, who on Friday authorised him to meet the party’s top brass, it could not be ascertained what transpired during the meetings.
While the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is out of the country and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is not in Delhi, sources did not rule out Channi meeting Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Any meaningful discussions are likely to take place only after Rahul Gandhi returns from abroad.
To assess the situation, the party’s Punjab affairs in-charge, Bhupesh Baghel, is expected to reach Chandigarh in a day or two. Baghel also called up some of the leaders who had attended the meeting at Channi’s residence on Friday.
Striking a conciliatory note a day after Channi’s show of strength, PPCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said, “Channi Sahib is our elder brother, a senior leader and a former Chief Minister. If some Congress leaders meet at his house, there is nothing wrong in that. Tomorrow, leaders may gather at my residence or at Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa’s home as well. That should not be interpreted as infighting.”
He rejected the speculation about internal divisions, adding that there is “no factionalism” in the Punjab Congress. Warring expressed confidence that all senior leaders would appear together on a common stage within the next one or two days.
While clarifying that neither Channi nor any other senior leader had acted against party’s interests, Warring said strict action would be taken against those former MLAs or leaders found making statements against the party or indulging in indiscipline.
Meanwhile, former DGP Mohammed Mustafa, husband of former minister Razia Sultana, in an open letter to Rahul Gandhi, has suggested course correction while crushing dissidence with an iron hand.
