Priyanka Gandhi played role of crisis manager for Rahul-Sidhu meeting

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra played the role of a crisis manager in making possible the meeting between party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday, said sources.

According to top sources, no meeting of Sidhu and Rahul Gandhi was scheduled earlier. It was Priyanka Gandhi who took the initiative and convinced Rahul Gandhi to meet Sidhu.

Disgruntled Congress leader Sidhu on Wednesday met the former Congress president in the national capital on Wednesday, in the backdrop of tumult in the Punjab unit of the party, ahead of next year's state Assembly elections.

According to the sources, the meeting between Sidhu and Rahul Gandhi which lasted for over 45 minutes can be seen as a "meeting of reconciliation" in the Punjab Congress.

Earlier in the day, Sidhu met the party's General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi at her residence here. She then went to Rahul Gandhi's residence for a meeting with him and the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi. Meanwhile, Sidhu waited at Vadra's residence till she had returned.

It is still not clear that what formula has been adopted to address Sidhu's grievances and demands.

Although AICC Panel has submitted its report to Sonia Gandhi that contains probable solutions to the problem. However, the party high command is yet to reveal the cards.

If sources are to be believed, Sidhu meeting Rahul Gandhi means that he has agreed to reconciliation and the proposal of the high command is acceptable to him.

However, suspense still remains on the proposal and whether Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh is agreeable to it or not.

Earlier, to hear the resentments against the Captain Amarinder Singh government, Sonia Gandhi formed a high-level committee, which sought opinions from all the MLAs, MPs from Punjab including Sidhu.

Amarinder Singh has appeared before the committee twice. The committee has already submitted its report to Sonia Gandhi. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi took feedback from many MLAs and leaders of Punjab.

After all the exercise, the Congress high command directed Singh to take action on a total of 18 issues, including the Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege case, within the stipulated time frame. These include all those issues raised by Sidhu to target the Punjab Chief Minister.

According to sources, with a few months left for the elections, Singh himself does not want a confrontation with Sidhu but at the same time is also against giving any big responsibility to him. State Congress leaders are also not in support of making Sidhu a substitute for Amarinder Singh. In such a situation it seems that Sidhu has no other option but to stay in the Congress and resolve his issues with Singh. Whether the party High Command has convinced him for this or not, will be known soon.

Even after so many meetings, the matter does not seem to be resolved soon. If Sidhu still does not agree, then Congress could suffer in Punjab.

Now after Sidhu's meeting with Rahul Gandhi, speculations are whether Captain Amarinder Singh will also be invited to meet Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Notably, last week Captain did not get a chance to meet Sonia Gandhi. Sources said the Punjab dispute will be resolved in the first week of July.

(ANI)

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