New Delhi, April 21
The Congress high command today met Amarinder Singh and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal while Pranab Mukherjee, a Congress veteran and a senior minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet was asked to mediate between the two-squabbling former chief ministers of Punjab.
The two Punjab leaders were called to the residence of Mukherjee late in the night. The meeting had got delayed as the Lok Sabha was in session till about 9 pm and Mukherjee was in the House where home minister Shivraj Patil was making his reply on the issue of internal security.
Both, Amarinder and Bhattal, have been asked to just “keep shut” especially after issues relating to militancy in Punjab have been raised in the media in the past few days. Amarinder’s roadshow in the Majha area was also discussed. The fact that Amarinder had not taken the calls of Ahmed Patel also figured. Bhattal had met the high command in the morning while Amarinder met the central leaders in the evening.
Meanwhile, suggestions have come from senior Congressmen at Delhi that a possible formula could be to have a new person as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief and also to have a new leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP). At present Bhattal holds both the posts. Though old time Congress watchers feel that such a bold decision was a remote possibility with the Lok Sabha polls just round the corner.
This morning Bhattal was joined in by Jagmeet Brar, a member of the Congress working committee, in meeting the high command over Amarinder Singh and his alleged anti-party activities.
