Chandigarh, December 10
Rocked by the sharp division in the Punjab Legislature Party, the Congress high command is all set to assume the role of peacemaker and may resort to dinner diplomacy in bringing warring factions together.

Extremely concerned at developments in Punjab immediately after a debacle in the recently concluded assembly elections in three of the four states, party President Sonia Gandhi may meet members of both groups separately and collectively after the three-member committee headed by Dr Manmohan Singh submits its report to her in a day or two.

The peacemaking effort is being capped by Mr Ashwani Kumar, Rajya Sabha MP from Gurdaspur, who has invited all Congress legislators and MPs to his house tomorrow evening.

The crisis in the Punjab CLP has been aggravated by the chargesheeting of Punjab Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal by a local court this afternoon.

The release of Badals on bail and the subsequent public response to the procession in which they drove to Chandigarh from Patiala has added to the worries of the Congress high command. The Badals have decided to go to Amritsar tomorrow to pay their obeisance in another display of their mass following.

While both groups have claimed support of between 37 and 42 legislators each, the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, told The Tribune over telephone that he physically paraded 40 legislators, besides handing over letters of support from two others — Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh and Technical Education Minister Mohinder Singh Kaypee. Mr Bir Devinder Singh is busy with the marriage of his daughter while Mr Kaypee is away to England.

“I will be away to Malout tomorrow to address a rally as a part of my programme of addressing at least two public functions a week in the state,” said the Chief Minister, holding that each legislator supporting him had introduced himself or herself to the three-member committee. The job of talking on behalf of the entire group, he said, was left to Dr Kewal Krishan, the seniormost among them.

“If the dissidents had any problems with my style of working or any other grievances, they should have come to me and talked to me. I agree that they have every right to come to the party high command as well, but they should have at least talked to me before coming here”, he said.

“We have only 64 members in our CLP, of which 40 were physically present at Kapurthala House this evening. So if they are claiming support of 37 or 38 members, I do not know from where they are getting the numbers”, he added.

“The three-member committee has called me tomorrow again to tell me what are the grievances and complaints of the other group. Now it is for the high command to take a decision in the matter as I have always been trying to take everyone along,” said Capt Amarinder Singh.

The dissidents, on the other hand claimed that besides 16 ministers, they had the support of 21 legislators. They had been insisting on change of leadership of the Punjab CLP.

Sources close to the high command maintained that the party would take an appropriate decision at appropriate time to quell this dissidence.

The general feeling in the party has been that unity must be maintained at all costs and all steps be taken in that direction. Any step which vitiates the peaceful atmosphere in the state should be avoided, it feels.

Mr Ashwani Kumar, while talking to The Tribune over telephone, confirmed that he had invited all MLAs and MPs to dinner at his house tomorrow. He held that he was trying to facilitate peace and unity process in the Punjab CLP.