Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Sunday, met Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. The move comes after Sidhu made the letter public which he wrote to Sonia Gandhi, seeking a meeting to discuss a 13-point agenda.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Sunday, met with Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, and they both agreed to set up a panel on sacrilege. The party high command shifted to firefighting mode to end the conflict between the two warring leaders ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The meeting held in Chandigarh included All-India Congress Committee (AICC) observer Harish Chaudhary along with AICC joint secretary Krishna Allavaru. Punjab minister and PPCC general secretary Pargat Singh were present too.

Sidhu earlier resigned from the post of PPCC president only to rethink his decision after high command asked him to continue being on the post. The move comes after Sidhu made public a letter written to the party interim president Sonia Gandhi, seeking a meeting to present a 13-point agenda for the partyÂs campaign for the next Assembly polls. In the letter to the Congress president on October 15, a day after he had meetings with senior party leaders in Delhi, Sidhu pitched for a “Punjab Model with a 13-Point Agenda to be part of the Congress manifesto for the 2022 Assembly Elections”.

It was originally an 18-point agenda given by the party high command to then Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in the last week of June with a timeline for implementation. Around a month later, Sidhu handed over 5 priority points to Amarinder. However, the peace formula did not work. Sidhu has now given 13 points agenda from 18 points agenda for quick and effective implementation. It is set to become a tall order for CM Charanjit Singh Channi to work on this agenda which includes contentious issues too. 

He said the people of Punjab demand justice for the 2015 police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in Faridkot following the desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib during the previous SAD-BJP regime. On the drugs issue, the Punjab Congress chief said, “The big fish mentioned in the STF report must be immediately arrested and given exemplary punishment.” He also wrote that the state government must reject the “three black farm laws” of the Centre “by announcing that they will not be implemented in Punjab at any cost”. The state government must release a white paper on power purchase agreements and cancellation of “all faulty PPAs as promised by us”, Sidhu said in the letter. He also batted for more representation to the Dalits and Backward Classes in the state cabinet.

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