The former cricketer, who had resigned from the Punjab cabinet in 2019 after being stripped of a key portfolio, had met with the prime minister at his country home in Mohali.
The meeting that lasted almost 40 minutes discussed the possible return of the cricketer-turned-politician to the cabinet, but an official word is expected on the matter, the PTI news agency reported.
Chief Minister @capt_amarinder Singh met with his senior colleague from the Navjot Singh Sidhu party in Chandigarh today. https://t.co/kyr7Ch68l7
– Congress of Punjab (@INCPunjab) 1615985435000
Sports Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, who accompanied the MLA to the CM farm, said there is no wrong between the two leaders as they embraced at the meeting.
This was the second meeting between the two leaders after the CM’s attempt to break the ice in November last year.
The central leadership of Congress has been trying to rehabilitate Sidhu since his resignation, party leaders say.
Congress is now considering appointing the sulking Navjot Singh Sidhu as chief deputy minister in Punjab, an option the party believes can placate the volatile leader and fix things in state unity ahead of the assembly elections. Sidhu, as Executive Vice President to Prime Minister Amarinder Singh, is known to be a combination that the party leadership is actively considering while considering options in Punjab.
The tension between Amarinder Singh and Sidhu came to light in May 2019 when the CM blamed him for the “inept handling” of the Local Government Department, claiming that it had resulted in the “poor performance” of Congress in urban areas in the Lok Sabha center.
Subsequently, Sidhu was stripped of the local government and tourism and culture portfolios by the prime minister and assigned the new and renewable energy portfolio. Shortly after the reorganization, he was held incommunicado.
Singh and Sidhu also disagreed over the latter’s controversial visit to Pakistan for the swearing-in ceremony of Imran khan where he had embraced the Chief of the Army which caused a great controversy at home. The gap widened further during the general elections when Sidhu and his wife accused Amarinder of having participated in the refusal of the ticket to her from Chandigarh or Amritsar.
(With PTI inputs)
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