New Delhi, May 29
The Congress panel on Punjab affairs will kick-start its proceedings from Monday with one on one meetings starting with the state unit president Sunil Jakhar.
The panel led by Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarkun Kharge met at AICC headquarters here this morning for three hours and decided to conduct meetings with state leaders, starting with the PCC chief, MLAs and going over to ministers, MPs, past presidents and finally the chief minister.
“We will start meeting the MLAs soon after our deliberations with the state unit chief. The panel plans to wind up discussions with MLAs by the first week of June,” AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab Harish Rawat told The Tribune today.
Asked under what category former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu would fall for the purpose of deliberations, Rawat said, “Navajot Singh Sidhu is an important leader of Punjab. He can come as an MLA or separately as he wants. We will meet him separately also.”
The panel, which consists of Rawat and former Delhi MP JP Agarwal as members, also said today that it would hold physical meetings with leaders in Delhi.
“Virtual interactions are not on the table yet,” Rawat said.
On the order in which the committee would engage MLAs, Rawat said the state unit president would formalize an arrangement and decide who to send when.
“We will start our deliberations from Monday in Delhi. Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar will come to meet us on Monday after which we will meet the MLAs, followed by ministers, MPs, important state leaders, past state chiefs. We will meet Ambika Ssoni, Partap Singh Bajwa, Shamsher Singh Dullo, Ashwani Kumar among other senior leaders. The aim is to conclude the consultations in the minimum time possible,” Rawat added.
On a question about whether a larger collective group of leaders could be named on the eve of state elections, Rawat said, “We are going into the process of consultation with an open mind. There are no preconceived ideas.”
The committee will submit its report to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi for a final call.
The challenge is to accommodate Sidhu and take other tall leaders of the state together.
