M A I N   N E W S

Antony meets warring Punjab Cong leaders
Ajay Banerjee/TNS

New Delhi, April 5
Congress Central leaders today began the difficult task of sorting out the mess in the Punjab unit with a three-member team led by Defence Minister AK Antony talking to a section of state party leaders.

The state party unit has been embroiled in a faction fight following its defeat in the Assembly election last month. Capt Amarinder Singh’s opponents accuse him of having led the party to the second consecutive loss and want him removed. Then there are those who want him to stay on till the next Lok Sabha elections due in 2014.

The Antony-led Central party team includes Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. The political weight of the committee indicates the party is serious about resolving the crisis.

Party sources said the committee was unlikely to take an immediate decision given the fact that Antony is not known to be a quick decision-maker in such matters.

Six party leaders have been called by the committee for discussions. These include Ambika Soni, Punjab party affairs in charge of the Congress Gulchain Singh Charak, Capt Amarinder Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, AICC secretaries Sanjay Nirupam and Vijay Lakshmi Sadhoo. Nirupam is from Maharashtra while Sadhoo comes from Madhya Pradesh.

Each invitee will meet the three-member committee separately. The second round will carry on tomorrow, where leader of the Congress Legislature Party Sunil Jakhar is among the invitees along with MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee. However, some Punjab Congressmen are not much enthused about the choice of invitees for the first meeting.

A senior party leader said the high command was talking with people who were “reponsible for the wrong ticket distribution and lacked in projecting issues in the run-up to the polls.”