The ongoing turmoil in the state Congress over the appointment of Navjot Singh Sidhu as PPCC president seems to be coming to an end, as Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has not only agreed to attend the coronation ceremony of Sidhu but also extended a tea invitation to the cricketer-turned-politician.
The Chief Minister has also invited all Congress ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior leaders to the tea party at Punjab Bhawan at 10 am, before the coronation ceremony to be held at Punjab Congress Bhawan at 11 am on Friday.
After the tea, all of them will leave for Congress Bhavan to attend the ceremony. Till now the CM was insisting for an apology from Sidhu for his tweets against him, but after meeting newly appointed PPCC working presidents Kuljit Singh Nagra and Sangat Singh Gilzian on Thursday, Captain agreed to attend the ceremony.
After this, CM’s media advisor Raveen Thukral tweeted, “Punjab CM @capt_amarinder has invited all @INCPunjab MLAs, MPs and senior party functionaries at Punjab Bhawan for tea at 10 am on Friday. They will all then go to Punjab Congress Bhawan together from there for the installation of the new PPCC team.”
It may be noted that along with Sidhu as PPCC president, four working presidents Kuljit Singh Nagra, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Sukhwinder Singh Danny and Pawan Goel will also take charge on Friday. In this way, the dispute of Punjab Congress, which has been going on for a long time, now seems to be somewhat resolved.
On Thursday afternoon at 3 pm, Nagra and Gilzian met the Chief Minister at his Siswan farm house and invited him to attend the programme. The related invitation letter handed over to CM was signed by Sidhu, Nagra, Gilzian, Danny and Goel. After a brief consultation, Captain not only agreed to attend the event but also formally announced the tea party to welcome the new team.
It is worth mentioning here that a large number of Congress MLAs from Punjab participated in the roadshow organised by Sidhu in Amritsar on Wednesday. According to the sources, the MLAs who gathered at Sidhu’s residence before the roadshow, consulted to chalk out the way to persuade the Chief Minister. All were of the opinion to invite the CM jointly and the related consent was signed by about 50 MLAs present there. Now all eyes are on Friday’s developments.