Riven with internal strife, the Punjab Congress saw a flurry of
hectic activity on Saturday.

Harish Rawat, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary, flew
down to meet Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu
called on state party chief Sunil Jakhar on Saturday.

The morning saw speculation mount about Sidhu being appointed the head of
state Congress despite Amarinder Singh’s misgivings.

Rawat reached Chandigarh in a chopper around 12 noon and went straight to
the chief minister’s farmhouse in Mohali. The visit was seen as an effort to
placate Amarinder, who wrote a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi on
Friday.

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In his letter, Singh is said to have written that giving the post to Sidhu,
a Jat Sikh, would upset the party’s senior leaders representing the Hindu
community and harm the party’s prospects in the 2022 assembly elections.  

Earlier in the morning, Navjot Singh Sidhu met Punjab Pradesh Congress
Committee chief Sunil Jakhar. After nearly a half-an-hour long meeting, Sidhu
said Jakhar is his elder brother and a guiding force. Jakhar, in turn,
described Sidhu as a ‘capable man’.

Sidhu had met Sonia Gandhi at her residence in New Delhi on Friday in an
apparent bid to arrive at a truce formula over the state unit revamp.

The flurry of meetings among senior leaders comes in the backdrop of
simmering tensions in the Punjab Congress following differences between
Amarinder and Sidhu.

In case the Congress decides to appoint Sidhu as PPCC chief, there will be
two Jat Sikhs in key posts. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is also a Jat
Sikh. Jakhar, the current chief of the state Congress, is a Hindu.

There is also talk of appointing two working presidents — a Dalit and a
Hindu to balance caste equations, according to PTI.