Congress high command has decided to constitute a three-member committee Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Navjot Singh Sidhu and AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat to resolve the impasse over key government appointments and the induction of “tainted” ministers in the new cabinet.
The decision in this regard was taken after a meeting that lasted over two hours between Channi, Sidhu and senior Congress leader Harish Chaudhary at Chandigarh’s Punjab Bhawan on Thursday evening.
This decision has come on a day when the former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced That he will leave the party, but will not join the BJP. Sources said the high command has decided to involve Sidhu in the process of finding a replacement for Advocate-General APS Deol, who was recently picked by the Channi government. His appointment raised eyebrows as Deol was linked to former Punjab DGP Sumedh Saini and suspended Inspector General of Police Paramraj Singh Umranangal. Deol had also represented Saini in an alleged corruption case.
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As part of the ceasefire plan, a panel of names will be sent to UPSC for appointment of a new DGP. The government had recently given additional charge of DGP to Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, whose name was opposed by Sidhu. The PCC chief had named Siddharth Chattopadhyay, who headed the SIT probing drug charges against a senior police officer.
Sources said the high command had also decided that the three-member panel would meet at least once a week to discuss key decisions and appointments of the government. However, there was no consensus on replacing the “tainted” ministers. Sidhu was keen to include MLA Surjit Dhiman in the cabinet.
Earlier in the day, it was announced that Sidhu would continue as Punjab Congress president after the MLA held talks with CM Channi, and most of his demands were accepted. The decision is likely to be formally announced at the cabinet meeting convened on October 4.
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