News Analysis India

Tag: Gurpreet Singh Kangar

  • After Sidhu, now more Congressministers target Amrinder as Kotkapura firing sparks factionalism

    Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH:  The political fallout of a month-old HC order, hauling the SIT over coals for shoddy probe into Guru Granth Sahib sacrilege and the Kotkapura firing, worsened for the Congress dispensation in Punjab amid a growing list of top leaders attacking Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for delay in action.

    Already caught in a war of words with ex-cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, Captain Amarinder Singh is now facing salvos from three cabinet ministers and two MPs even as call from his supporters for action against Sidhu grew louder.

    According to sources, cabinet ministers Sukhjinder Randhawa, Charanjit Singh Channi and Gurpreet Singh Kangar and MPs Partap Bajwa and Ravneet Bittu held a meeting on Monday to deliberate on the issue.

    The rebels have been vocally critical of Advocate General Atul Nanda, and have sought time to reply to show cause from the party high command.

    Even as the rebel drama was unfolding, the Chief Minister’s camp was busy making backdoor efforts to pacify disgruntled ministers and leaders.

    CM’s close associate and adviser BIS Chahal landed at Randhawa’s door to iron out the wrinkles, sources said.

    The visit followed another minister Aruna Chaudhary calling on Channi. It was learnt that 12 SC MLAs, too, convened a meeting, which was attended by MLA Raj Kumar Verka, who is close to Amarinder.

    Bittu said if Amarinder as Home Minister could not take on the Badals, he should relinquish the post for capable people.

    Meanwhile, Bajwa said: “I have a lot of respect for my esteemed colleagues with whom I have worked as Punjab Congress president. They should clear their position whether they want action against the perpetrators of sacrilege and subsequent police firing that killed two persons.” 

    Meanwhile, verka said that the meeting he had attended did not touch upon Amarinder Singh but focused on whether the government had progressed on making good the promises it made to the community.

    Even as the hectic parleys were going on, three cabinet ministers Brahm Mohindra, Sunder Sham Arora and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot urged the party high command to take action against Sidhu. 

  • Two Congress MPs, three Punjab ministers express concern over delay in justice in 2015 sacrilege case

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Three Punjab ministers and two Congress MPs on Monday met here and expressed concern over the alleged delay in justice in the 2015 sacrilege incidents and subsequent police firing in Faridkot.

    These Congress leaders are learnt to have sought early action against the perpetrators of the desecration of a religious text and the police firing in 2015, sources said.

    Congress MPs Partap Singh Bajwa and Ravneet Singh Bittu, and ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Charanjit Singh Channi and Gurpreet Singh Kangar were part of the meeting, they said.

    Later, Randhawa met MLAs Raj Kumar Verka and Randeep Singh Nabha, the sources said.

    A few days ago too, some Congress leaders, including Randhawa, Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu, had come together and had held a meeting.

    With assembly elections just less than a year away, some Congress legislators want Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to fulfil the promise made in the last polls of taking action against those involved in 2015 sacrilege incidents and police firing in Faridkot.

    They also want the chief minister to take concrete action against the alleged drug trade in the state.

    A minister who was part of the meeting held on Monday said they were concerned over the alleged “declining graph” of the Congress in the state in the wake of alleged “inaction” in the 2015 sacrilege incidents.

    The minister said they were also concerned over growing perception in the public that the government was “hand in glove” with the Badals of the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal.

    It is a question of the party’s survival in the state, the minister stressed.

    The Congress leaders are learnt to have stressed that they were disciplined soldiers of the Congress and would continue to take up these issues within the party, the sources said.

    There is a “discontent” among a section of Congress legislators over the alleged delay in delivery of justice in the 2015 incidents.

    The Congress had in the run-up to the 2017 assembly polls, promised to take strict action against the perpetrators of the desecration of a religious text and the police firing in 2015.

    Navjot Sidhu has been critical of Amarinder Singh after the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed a probe report into the 2015 Kotkapura firing case last month.

    Acting on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High court, the Punjab government has constituted a new three-member special investigation team (SIT) and directed it to complete the investigations into the Kotkapura firing incident, preferably in six months.