Amritsar, April 19
Taking a serious view of the ‘ show of strength’ by supporters of Amarinder Singh to mark his tour of border belt under the pretext of meeting the party workers facing “political vendetta” , the Congress high command at New Delhi has asked the former Chief Minister to come to New Delhi to discuss party affairs .
According to party sources Ahmad Patel political adviser to Sonia Gandhi , president, Indian National Congress called up Amarinder Singh and asked him to ‘immediately reach’ New Delhi,cutting short his visit to the border belt . However, the former Chief Minister expressed his inability to cut short his visit due to heavy response he received in the Majha region . He told Patel it would be difficult to cancel his proposed visit to Beas and other areas tomorrow . On this , Patel fixed the date for Amarinder Singh on April 21 evening .
This was confirmed by Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu , Congress MLA from Talwandi Sabo on telephone .
The party sources pointed out Patel also called up Amarinder Singh on his cell phone twice yesterday but he could not pick up the phone due to his hectic schedule. It is believed Patel wanted to get Amarinder Singh’s today’s visit to Majha region cancelled as per direction from the party high command . However Amarinder saw the ‘missed calls’ of Patel today only.
Sources in the Congress say Amarinder Singh had also sought appointment with Sonia Gandhi a few days before but he could not meet her and he returned to Punjab yesterday .
The party high command is of the view parallel programmes being organised by Amarinder Singh would hit prospects of party candidate in the Amritsar (South) byelection , scheduled
to be held on May 22 . The local senior Congress leaders, including Jugal Kishor Sharma, Harjinder Singh Thekedar and other former MLAs from Amritsar district took active
part in the receptions.
