Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday denied any meeting with party leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, reported NDTV. The cricketer-turned-politician had on Tuesday left from his residence in Patiala to meet Gandhi in the national capital amid the ongoing infighting in the Punjab Congress.
Reportedly, Rahul Gandhi has been continuously meeting Congress MLAs, MPs and prominent leaders from Punjab at his residence from the last few days to diffuse the tensions between Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Sidhu.
Earlier, a three-member panel had been set up by Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi to end factionalism in the party's Punjab unit.
On Friday, the leaders who reached Rahul Gandhi's residence to attend a meeting included Vijendra Singla, Rana Gurjit Singh, RS MP Shamsher Singh Dhillon, and MLA Lakhvir Singh.
Rajya Sabha MP Shamsher Singh Dhillon while speaking to the mediapersons had said that the meeting was held to resolve infighting in the Punjab Congress and added that decisions were made to strengthen the party in the upcoming elections in the state.
Gandhi on Wednesday met many senior Punjab leaders including Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and Harish Rawat in Delhi.
Notably, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh during his recent three-day visit to Delhi did not meet Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
The state is crucial for Congress as it is one of the few states where the party is in power and the outcome will have an impact on the party's prospects outside the state as well.
Assembly elections in Punjab are scheduled to take place next year.
For the uninitiated, Sidhu, who had resigned from the Punjab Cabinet after he was divested of the local bodies portfolio in 2019, has been at loggerheads with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. He has attacked the chief minister over the alleged delay in justice in the 2015 incidents of sacrilege and subsequent police firing. On the other hand, Singh had slammed Sidhu for continuously attacking him over the sacrilege issue and termed the former's outbursts as "total indiscipline".
